2. RE: Salary

We do not differentiate because degrees are not required in Maryland. Based on experience a person is selected to be a Lead Teacher at $20/hr or a Teacher at $17/hr. At my center some of these folks in both categories have masters degrees, some have high school diplomas. All are qualified by the State to hold their position.

3. RE: Salary

I understand that Maryland does not require degrees for community childcare but it seems a little strange. What are the backgrounds of the various teachers? Even though they are all "qualified" by the standards of Maryland to teach young children, what do you think about this? Also, are they all paid by the hour versus a yearly salary and contract that includes other responsibilities outside the classroom teaching? What does paying teachers by the hour say about their professional status? Does the State of Maryland see those who teach young children as professionals? Does permitting those with high school diplomas and those with college degrees are on parity depress the salaries and lead to uneven quality of educating and caring for young children? I am thinking about the work that is being pursued at NAEYC in Power to the Profession when I bring up these questions.

We do not differentiate because degrees are not required in Maryland. Based on experience a person is selected to be a Lead Teacher at $20/hr or a Teacher at $17/hr. At my center some of these folks in both categories have masters degrees, some have high school diplomas. All are qualified by the State to hold their position.

4. RE: Salary

Teachers are paid hourly. Again, in MD only teachers who are school year only (so pK-12, if PK is part of elementary school) are salaried. The salary vs hourly debate is a whole different topic. My teachers are eligible for overtime because of their hourly status which actually helps when staffing is an issue, because many don't mind staying to help out, but are also extra motivated by the overtime pay. I fear if they were salaried that would be more of a challenge. My school is birth through 12th grade, and my PK teachers are salaried and it is like pulling teeth to get them to do the 12 hours of continuing Ed and anything that is required by child care licensing outside of their normal work day. Those people have advanced degrees as well.I am not saying it's fair that child care teachers and pk-12 teachers are considered differently, I am just stating my experience with both.i don't think that just because someone has a higher degree that they are more knowledgeable about anything. I want teachers who have real life experience in a classroom with young children, not in a classroom with a professor.i hope Naeyc's power to the profession propels the field of early education forward and we no longer have these disparities. Until then, this is where we are.

I understand that Maryland does not require degrees for community childcare but it seems a little strange. What are the backgrounds of the various teachers? Even though they are all "qualified" by the standards of Maryland to teach young children, what do you think about this? Also, are they all paid by the hour versus a yearly salary and contract that includes other responsibilities outside the classroom teaching? What does paying teachers by the hour say about their professional status? Does the State of Maryland see those who teach young children as professionals? Does permitting those with high school diplomas and those with college degrees are on parity depress the salaries and lead to uneven quality of educating and caring for young children? I am thinking about the work that is being pursued at NAEYC in Power to the Profession when I bring up these questions.

We do not differentiate because degrees are not required in Maryland. Based on experience a person is selected to be a Lead Teacher at $20/hr or a Teacher at $17/hr. At my center some of these folks in both categories have masters degrees, some have high school diplomas. All are qualified by the State to hold their position.

Teachers are paid hourly. Again, in MD only teachers who are school year only (so pK-12, if PK is part of elementary school) are salaried. The salary vs hourly debate is a whole different topic. My teachers are eligible for overtime because of their hourly status which actually helps when staffing is an issue, because many don't mind staying to help out, but are also extra motivated by the overtime pay. I fear if they were salaried that would be more of a challenge. My school is birth through 12th grade, and my PK teachers are salaried and it is like pulling teeth to get them to do the 12 hours of continuing Ed and anything that is required by child care licensing outside of their normal work day. Those people have advanced degrees as well.I am not saying it's fair that child care teachers and pk-12 teachers are considered differently, I am just stating my experience with both.i don't think that just because someone has a higher degree that they are more knowledgeable about anything. I want teachers who have real life experience in a classroom with young children, not in a classroom with a professor.i hope Naeyc's power to the profession propels the field of early education forward and we no longer have these disparities. Until then, this is where we are.

I understand that Maryland does not require degrees for community childcare but it seems a little strange. What are the backgrounds of the various teachers? Even though they are all "qualified" by the standards of Maryland to teach young children, what do you think about this? Also, are they all paid by the hour versus a yearly salary and contract that includes other responsibilities outside the classroom teaching? What does paying teachers by the hour say about their professional status? Does the State of Maryland see those who teach young children as professionals? Does permitting those with high school diplomas and those with college degrees are on parity depress the salaries and lead to uneven quality of educating and caring for young children? I am thinking about the work that is being pursued at NAEYC in Power to the Profession when I bring up these questions.

We do not differentiate because degrees are not required in Maryland. Based on experience a person is selected to be a Lead Teacher at $20/hr or a Teacher at $17/hr. At my center some of these folks in both categories have masters degrees, some have high school diplomas. All are qualified by the State to hold their position.

6. RE: Salary

I am at a new school now, but my old school (what I was referring to when I wrote my post) is a private school and was $26,000 for infants and $21,000 for two-four year olds and then school age was $19-$30k for the school year. Salaries were budgeted in and we had an annual fund and capital campaigns.

My new school is much less expensive, but run by a church whose priority is not to make money but to provide a service to the community in the form of high quality early learning and we pay our teachers more than the traditional corporate center in this area as well.

Teachers are paid hourly. Again, in MD only teachers who are school year only (so pK-12, if PK is part of elementary school) are salaried. The salary vs hourly debate is a whole different topic. My teachers are eligible for overtime because of their hourly status which actually helps when staffing is an issue, because many don't mind staying to help out, but are also extra motivated by the overtime pay. I fear if they were salaried that would be more of a challenge. My school is birth through 12th grade, and my PK teachers are salaried and it is like pulling teeth to get them to do the 12 hours of continuing Ed and anything that is required by child care licensing outside of their normal work day. Those people have advanced degrees as well.I am not saying it's fair that child care teachers and pk-12 teachers are considered differently, I am just stating my experience with both.i don't think that just because someone has a higher degree that they are more knowledgeable about anything. I want teachers who have real life experience in a classroom with young children, not in a classroom with a professor.i hope Naeyc's power to the profession propels the field of early education forward and we no longer have these disparities. Until then, this is where we are.

I understand that Maryland does not require degrees for community childcare but it seems a little strange. What are the backgrounds of the various teachers? Even though they are all "qualified" by the standards of Maryland to teach young children, what do you think about this? Also, are they all paid by the hour versus a yearly salary and contract that includes other responsibilities outside the classroom teaching? What does paying teachers by the hour say about their professional status? Does the State of Maryland see those who teach young children as professionals? Does permitting those with high school diplomas and those with college degrees are on parity depress the salaries and lead to uneven quality of educating and caring for young children? I am thinking about the work that is being pursued at NAEYC in Power to the Profession when I bring up these questions.

We do not differentiate because degrees are not required in Maryland. Based on experience a person is selected to be a Lead Teacher at $20/hr or a Teacher at $17/hr. At my center some of these folks in both categories have masters degrees, some have high school diplomas. All are qualified by the State to hold their position.

7. RE: Salary

So we are privately owned and for an infant it is $11,700 at one of our newer facilities and $8,320.00 for an infant at our original location which has been around for 35 years. So you can see at those rates there is no way we could pay wages that high.

Also now that you are at a church program, does the church subsidies the childcare program so that parents do not have to pay as much?

We do accept childcare subsidies from the state at our original location, but that do not reimburse at the rate we charge so we lose about $20.00 per week for every subsidies child we enroll.

I am at a new school now, but my old school (what I was referring to when I wrote my post) is a private school and was $26,000 for infants and $21,000 for two-four year olds and then school age was $19-$30k for the school year. Salaries were budgeted in and we had an annual fund and capital campaigns.

My new school is much less expensive, but run by a church whose priority is not to make money but to provide a service to the community in the form of high quality early learning and we pay our teachers more than the traditional corporate center in this area as well.

Teachers are paid hourly. Again, in MD only teachers who are school year only (so pK-12, if PK is part of elementary school) are salaried. The salary vs hourly debate is a whole different topic. My teachers are eligible for overtime because of their hourly status which actually helps when staffing is an issue, because many don't mind staying to help out, but are also extra motivated by the overtime pay. I fear if they were salaried that would be more of a challenge. My school is birth through 12th grade, and my PK teachers are salaried and it is like pulling teeth to get them to do the 12 hours of continuing Ed and anything that is required by child care licensing outside of their normal work day. Those people have advanced degrees as well.I am not saying it's fair that child care teachers and pk-12 teachers are considered differently, I am just stating my experience with both.i don't think that just because someone has a higher degree that they are more knowledgeable about anything. I want teachers who have real life experience in a classroom with young children, not in a classroom with a professor.i hope Naeyc's power to the profession propels the field of early education forward and we no longer have these disparities. Until then, this is where we are.

I understand that Maryland does not require degrees for community childcare but it seems a little strange. What are the backgrounds of the various teachers? Even though they are all "qualified" by the standards of Maryland to teach young children, what do you think about this? Also, are they all paid by the hour versus a yearly salary and contract that includes other responsibilities outside the classroom teaching? What does paying teachers by the hour say about their professional status? Does the State of Maryland see those who teach young children as professionals? Does permitting those with high school diplomas and those with college degrees are on parity depress the salaries and lead to uneven quality of educating and caring for young children? I am thinking about the work that is being pursued at NAEYC in Power to the Profession when I bring up these questions.

We do not differentiate because degrees are not required in Maryland. Based on experience a person is selected to be a Lead Teacher at $20/hr or a Teacher at $17/hr. At my center some of these folks in both categories have masters degrees, some have high school diplomas. All are qualified by the State to hold their position.

8. RE: Salary

I've been at my new school for about a month and I have not been privy to the budget. They didn't trust the former director with managing it. I will be moving forward, but I have a lot of other things to "fix" first. I hope to see what the budget looks like in the upcoming weeks and I can let you know. However, 8k a year for an infant is incredibly affordable, but I suppose it depends on your area (which I know nothing about your area). Infant care doesn't go for much less than $350 a week in a Center where I am. We are $220 a week for 2-4 year olds, which is about what your infants are paying at $11k. I would think the church where I work absorbs the costs of utilities which is a huge chunk of what we would be paying from our budget. I did create a reasonable budget where a program I was creating was sustainable at a reasonable rate for families and a living wage for teachers and still made a profit to put back into the program. I get creative and try not to spend money where I don't have to (i.e. in marketing - I do grassroots things which is easier with social media).

So we are privately owned and for an infant it is $11,700 at one of our newer facilities and $8,320.00 for an infant at our original location which has been around for 35 years. So you can see at those rates there is no way we could pay wages that high.

Also now that you are at a church program, does the church subsidies the childcare program so that parents do not have to pay as much?

We do accept childcare subsidies from the state at our original location, but that do not reimburse at the rate we charge so we lose about $20.00 per week for every subsidies child we enroll.

I am at a new school now, but my old school (what I was referring to when I wrote my post) is a private school and was $26,000 for infants and $21,000 for two-four year olds and then school age was $19-$30k for the school year. Salaries were budgeted in and we had an annual fund and capital campaigns.

My new school is much less expensive, but run by a church whose priority is not to make money but to provide a service to the community in the form of high quality early learning and we pay our teachers more than the traditional corporate center in this area as well.

Teachers are paid hourly. Again, in MD only teachers who are school year only (so pK-12, if PK is part of elementary school) are salaried. The salary vs hourly debate is a whole different topic. My teachers are eligible for overtime because of their hourly status which actually helps when staffing is an issue, because many don't mind staying to help out, but are also extra motivated by the overtime pay. I fear if they were salaried that would be more of a challenge. My school is birth through 12th grade, and my PK teachers are salaried and it is like pulling teeth to get them to do the 12 hours of continuing Ed and anything that is required by child care licensing outside of their normal work day. Those people have advanced degrees as well.I am not saying it's fair that child care teachers and pk-12 teachers are considered differently, I am just stating my experience with both.i don't think that just because someone has a higher degree that they are more knowledgeable about anything. I want teachers who have real life experience in a classroom with young children, not in a classroom with a professor.i hope Naeyc's power to the profession propels the field of early education forward and we no longer have these disparities. Until then, this is where we are.

I understand that Maryland does not require degrees for community childcare but it seems a little strange. What are the backgrounds of the various teachers? Even though they are all "qualified" by the standards of Maryland to teach young children, what do you think about this? Also, are they all paid by the hour versus a yearly salary and contract that includes other responsibilities outside the classroom teaching? What does paying teachers by the hour say about their professional status? Does the State of Maryland see those who teach young children as professionals? Does permitting those with high school diplomas and those with college degrees are on parity depress the salaries and lead to uneven quality of educating and caring for young children? I am thinking about the work that is being pursued at NAEYC in Power to the Profession when I bring up these questions.

We do not differentiate because degrees are not required in Maryland. Based on experience a person is selected to be a Lead Teacher at $20/hr or a Teacher at $17/hr. At my center some of these folks in both categories have masters degrees, some have high school diplomas. All are qualified by the State to hold their position.

9. RE: Salary

While I agree that $8k / year may be on the lower end of the childcare spectrum, I certainly wouldn't call it "incredibly affordable", although it is less than my local schools. I am a preschool teacher with two young children of my own and $16k per year is about 75% of my income. It's really disheartening when it costs me almost my entire paycheck just to be teaching other children while someone else teaches mine. I am a highly qualified teacher with an advanced degree and I am good at what I do, but it's almost not worth it for me to teach.

I've been at my new school for about a month and I have not been privy to the budget. They didn't trust the former director with managing it. I will be moving forward, but I have a lot of other things to "fix" first. I hope to see what the budget looks like in the upcoming weeks and I can let you know. However, 8k a year for an infant is incredibly affordable, but I suppose it depends on your area (which I know nothing about your area). Infant care doesn't go for much less than $350 a week in a Center where I am. We are $220 a week for 2-4 year olds, which is about what your infants are paying at $11k. I would think the church where I work absorbs the costs of utilities which is a huge chunk of what we would be paying from our budget. I did create a reasonable budget where a program I was creating was sustainable at a reasonable rate for families and a living wage for teachers and still made a profit to put back into the program. I get creative and try not to spend money where I don't have to (i.e. in marketing - I do grassroots things which is easier with social media).

So we are privately owned and for an infant it is $11,700 at one of our newer facilities and $8,320.00 for an infant at our original location which has been around for 35 years. So you can see at those rates there is no way we could pay wages that high.

Also now that you are at a church program, does the church subsidies the childcare program so that parents do not have to pay as much?

We do accept childcare subsidies from the state at our original location, but that do not reimburse at the rate we charge so we lose about $20.00 per week for every subsidies child we enroll.

I am at a new school now, but my old school (what I was referring to when I wrote my post) is a private school and was $26,000 for infants and $21,000 for two-four year olds and then school age was $19-$30k for the school year. Salaries were budgeted in and we had an annual fund and capital campaigns.

My new school is much less expensive, but run by a church whose priority is not to make money but to provide a service to the community in the form of high quality early learning and we pay our teachers more than the traditional corporate center in this area as well.

Teachers are paid hourly. Again, in MD only teachers who are school year only (so pK-12, if PK is part of elementary school) are salaried. The salary vs hourly debate is a whole different topic. My teachers are eligible for overtime because of their hourly status which actually helps when staffing is an issue, because many don't mind staying to help out, but are also extra motivated by the overtime pay. I fear if they were salaried that would be more of a challenge. My school is birth through 12th grade, and my PK teachers are salaried and it is like pulling teeth to get them to do the 12 hours of continuing Ed and anything that is required by child care licensing outside of their normal work day. Those people have advanced degrees as well.I am not saying it's fair that child care teachers and pk-12 teachers are considered differently, I am just stating my experience with both.i don't think that just because someone has a higher degree that they are more knowledgeable about anything. I want teachers who have real life experience in a classroom with young children, not in a classroom with a professor.i hope Naeyc's power to the profession propels the field of early education forward and we no longer have these disparities. Until then, this is where we are.

I understand that Maryland does not require degrees for community childcare but it seems a little strange. What are the backgrounds of the various teachers? Even though they are all "qualified" by the standards of Maryland to teach young children, what do you think about this? Also, are they all paid by the hour versus a yearly salary and contract that includes other responsibilities outside the classroom teaching? What does paying teachers by the hour say about their professional status? Does the State of Maryland see those who teach young children as professionals? Does permitting those with high school diplomas and those with college degrees are on parity depress the salaries and lead to uneven quality of educating and caring for young children? I am thinking about the work that is being pursued at NAEYC in Power to the Profession when I bring up these questions.

We do not differentiate because degrees are not required in Maryland. Based on experience a person is selected to be a Lead Teacher at $20/hr or a Teacher at $17/hr. At my center some of these folks in both categories have masters degrees, some have high school diplomas. All are qualified by the State to hold their position.

10. RE: Salary

It is sad that the compensation for Early Childhood professionals is still so low. As a new teacher back in the early 90's with a combination of elementary course work as well as early childhood, I was able to begin with a salary commensurate with the other teachers in a public school setting. However, for some reason, there is a notion that anyone with any BS degree can teach in Early Childhood.

Still one of the biggest hurdles in Early Childhood is that trilemma of quality, compensation and affordability. Here in Kansas, some of us have been looking at what a livable wage should be. In Kansas for an individual (no children) it would be about $24,000 a year. Teachers at the entry level with their BS in public school settings make about $42,000 a year, with a masters about $49,000 and with a doctorate about #57,000. While even these salaries seem a bit low, our early childhood professionals with the same degree levels should be making at least these amounts. Given this information, our teachers with CDA credentials should be making about $29,000 a year and with a two year, AS degree about $35,000. To say the least, this is not happening.

One thing that needs to change is the notion that anyone with a HS diploma can take care of and educate young children. In the private sector, to try to maintain affordability, warm and breathing seems to pass for quality. Yes, a qualified babysitter can take care of one or two children for brief amounts of time, but parents don't realize what is happening in child care centers with unqualified persons. Classrooms can look more like a scene from The Lord of the Flies.

I think as preschools become attached to public schools, they will require a teacher with a Bachelor's degree and salaries will be commensurate. I just hope it will be early childhood qualified professionals at the Bachelor's level and not just anyone with any education degree.

Personally, I would like to see universal Head Start and Early Head Start for all children with qualified professionals in all classrooms. I do think there could be a sliding scale for tuition based on family salaries. That would create more equitable classrooms, too, when having children together from all cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Given that so many of our early childhood settings are in private for profit settings, I do think that licensure/certification should follow the teachers in early childhood just as they do for other educators rather than just or in addition to the settings. In our area, much is given to businesses and industry in the form of TIF (Tax Increment Financing). TIF causes border wars between Missouri and Kansas where businesses are constantly moving back and forth to gain tax advantages. Recently Sly James (the outgoing major of Kansas City) tried to pass a bill for Early Childhood Education with a regressive tax on constituents. Needless to say, it didn't pass. What I would rather see, rather than TIF, are districts being set up around businesses and even farming communities that take into account all the childcare centers in their areas. Businesses and communities would then be designated to make a certain amount of charitable contributions (tax free or tax deductible) to the centers in their areas; but only when the centers are hiring highly qualified Early Childhood educators. It should be at least CDA credentialing at the teacher aid/floater levels, AS/two year degree teachers at the lead teacher levels and bachelors and up at the coordinating teacher/director levels. These tax incentives should follow the amount of contributions made to Early Childhood Care and Education.

With hope for the future,

Diana

Diana Hurst

MA Curriculum & Instruction: K-12 w/emphasis in Early Childhood Education Professor, Early Childhood Education Johnson County Community College

12345 College Boulevard

Box 36 Overland Park, Kansas 66212

Office: CLB 434 913.469.8500 ext 3492

Everyone knows that the mind will not be kept from contemplating what it loves. -Mary Astell

The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto ("e-mail") is sent by the Johnson County Community College ("JCCC") and is intended to be confidential and for the use of only the individual or entity named above. The information may be protected by federal and state privacy and disclosures acts or other legal rules. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are notified that retention, dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please immediately notify JCCC by email reply and immediately and permanently delete this e-mail message and any attachments thereto. Thank you.

11. RE: Salary

I understand that quality early childhood education is the key to a promising future and teacher salaries should be based on their educational background (degrees) to a certain degree.

I have worked with many people that have Associates, Bachelors, and Master degrees that are excellent at teaching, but others who lack the true passion and teaching ability and are not as deserving of a higher salary than those who may only have a High School Diploma or CDA. They tend to be more "book smart", but lack the true understanding of a child's social, emotional, physical, and educational well-being.

I myself learned later in life that I wanted to work with young children. I had gone to a trade school be be an esthetician (spa technician), but found while working in the industry that it was not the best fit for me. I was then offered a position as a Youth Services Assistant at a library. Here I performed storytimes, created programming, bibliographies, helped patrons find books and do research without an MLIS. This was when I found my passion for working with young children.

I went back to school and received a Certificate in Early Childhood Education and also received my CDA Credential. I began working in daycare and found that many of the teachers lacked a true love of the profession and many did not have any wanting to make ECE their career.They had degrees in other fields and just fell "into the profession".

It is so ridiculous to say a person who has a high school diploma is not as qualified as someone with a Masters Degree to work in a daycare center as a lead teacher. Many people have life experience that lends to the richness and culture of the learning environment. They have wonderful ideas and put their plans into action, whereas someone with a Masters may feel more entitled and slack off on their work just because of their degree. In this respect, I would pay the person with the high school diploma a similar wage due to their eagerness and intelligence working with children.

It is hard to make a blanked statement that life experience, hard work, and passion cannot lead to a quality teacher. Just ask some of the richest men and women in the world who formed businesses with only a high school diploma such as Bill Gates this. I'm sure he would say something quite similar. Book smarts do not equal putting teaching skills into use.

I myself would love to work in a school district, but unfortunately do not have the correct degree to do so at this time. Many people have acknowledged my teaching ability and say that I would make a great Kindergarten, 1st, or 2nd grade teacher due to my hard work and diligence.

I also create curriculum on TeacherspayTeachers.com for toddlers to second graders and have gotten many compliments on my work.

Thankfully, some school districts will allow me to work as a teacher's aide in these grades and that is an absolute joy. They understand that due to the economy and need to work that many people can not afford to go back to school for a higher education at this time.

I salute these school districts and hope one day that talent and innate ability in working with the children will lead to a change in our school systems around the country.

------------------------------Jennifer United States------------------------------

It is sad that the compensation for Early Childhood professionals is still so low. As a new teacher back in the early 90's with a combination of elementary course work as well as early childhood, I was able to begin with a salary commensurate with the other teachers in a public school setting. However, for some reason, there is a notion that anyone with any BS degree can teach in Early Childhood.

Still one of the biggest hurdles in Early Childhood is that trilemma of quality, compensation and affordability. Here in Kansas, some of us have been looking at what a livable wage should be. In Kansas for an individual (no children) it would be about $24,000 a year. Teachers at the entry level with their BS in public school settings make about $42,000 a year, with a masters about $49,000 and with a doctorate about #57,000. While even these salaries seem a bit low, our early childhood professionals with the same degree levels should be making at least these amounts. Given this information, our teachers with CDA credentials should be making about $29,000 a year and with a two year, AS degree about $35,000. To say the least, this is not happening.

One thing that needs to change is the notion that anyone with a HS diploma can take care of and educate young children. In the private sector, to try to maintain affordability, warm and breathing seems to pass for quality. Yes, a qualified babysitter can take care of one or two children for brief amounts of time, but parents don't realize what is happening in child care centers with unqualified persons. Classrooms can look more like a scene from The Lord of the Flies.

I think as preschools become attached to public schools, they will require a teacher with a Bachelor's degree and salaries will be commensurate. I just hope it will be early childhood qualified professionals at the Bachelor's level and not just anyone with any education degree.

Personally, I would like to see universal Head Start and Early Head Start for all children with qualified professionals in all classrooms. I do think there could be a sliding scale for tuition based on family salaries. That would create more equitable classrooms, too, when having children together from all cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Given that so many of our early childhood settings are in private for profit settings, I do think that licensure/certification should follow the teachers in early childhood just as they do for other educators rather than just or in addition to the settings. In our area, much is given to businesses and industry in the form of TIF (Tax Increment Financing). TIF causes border wars between Missouri and Kansas where businesses are constantly moving back and forth to gain tax advantages. Recently Sly James (the outgoing major of Kansas City) tried to pass a bill for Early Childhood Education with a regressive tax on constituents. Needless to say, it didn't pass. What I would rather see, rather than TIF, are districts being set up around businesses and even farming communities that take into account all the childcare centers in their areas. Businesses and communities would then be designated to make a certain amount of charitable contributions (tax free or tax deductible) to the centers in their areas; but only when the centers are hiring highly qualified Early Childhood educators. It should be at least CDA credentialing at the teacher aid/floater levels, AS/two year degree teachers at the lead teacher levels and bachelors and up at the coordinating teacher/director levels. These tax incentives should follow the amount of contributions made to Early Childhood Care and Education.

With hope for the future,

Diana

Diana Hurst

MA Curriculum & Instruction: K-12 w/emphasis in Early Childhood Education Professor, Early Childhood Education Johnson County Community College

12345 College Boulevard

Box 36 Overland Park, Kansas 66212

Office: CLB 434 913.469.8500 ext 3492

Everyone knows that the mind will not be kept from contemplating what it loves. -Mary Astell

The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto ("e-mail") is sent by the Johnson County Community College ("JCCC") and is intended to be confidential and for the use of only the individual or entity named above. The information may be protected by federal and state privacy and disclosures acts or other legal rules. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are notified that retention, dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please immediately notify JCCC by email reply and immediately and permanently delete this e-mail message and any attachments thereto. Thank you.

12. RE: Salary

@JenniferHatcher wrote "whereas someone with a Masters may feel more entitled and slack off on their work just because of their degree."I take exception to the fact that you say that about those of us with an MA. We are the ones that truely understand a child's social, emotional, physical, and educational well-being in every aspect of an activity. It's insulting to hear that we don't know how to put theory into practice. Not all MAs are in reserched based positions. We scrub toilets and change diapers like everyone.That being said, I have worked with non degree and CDA partners who have had equal or more pay than me and they are the best at what they do.Nevada has a career ladder and NAEYC has programs in place to recognize teaching positions. We are moving forward in informing and educating legislators.early ed for pres​identbaby steps​

I understand that quality early childhood education is the key to a promising future and teacher salaries should be based on their educational background (degrees) to a certain degree.

I have worked with many people that have Associates, Bachelors, and Master degrees that are excellent at teaching, but others who lack the true passion and teaching ability and are not as deserving of a higher salary than those who may only have a High School Diploma or CDA. They tend to be more "book smart", but lack the true understanding of a child's social, emotional, physical, and educational well-being.

I myself learned later in life that I wanted to work with young children. I had gone to a trade school be be an esthetician (spa technician), but found while working in the industry that it was not the best fit for me. I was then offered a position as a Youth Services Assistant at a library. Here I performed storytimes, created programming, bibliographies, helped patrons find books and do research without an MLIS. This was when I found my passion for working with young children.

I went back to school and received a Certificate in Early Childhood Education and also received my CDA Credential. I began working in daycare and found that many of the teachers lacked a true love of the profession and many did not have any wanting to make ECE their career.They had degrees in other fields and just fell "into the profession".

It is so ridiculous to say a person who has a high school diploma is not as qualified as someone with a Masters Degree to work in a daycare center as a lead teacher. Many people have life experience that lends to the richness and culture of the learning environment. They have wonderful ideas and put their plans into action, whereas someone with a Masters may feel more entitled and slack off on their work just because of their degree. In this respect, I would pay the person with the high school diploma a similar wage due to their eagerness and intelligence working with children.

It is hard to make a blanked statement that life experience, hard work, and passion cannot lead to a quality teacher. Just ask some of the richest men and women in the world who formed businesses with only a high school diploma such as Bill Gates this. I'm sure he would say something quite similar. Book smarts do not equal putting teaching skills into use.

I myself would love to work in a school district, but unfortunately do not have the correct degree to do so at this time. Many people have acknowledged my teaching ability and say that I would make a great Kindergarten, 1st, or 2nd grade teacher due to my hard work and diligence.

I also create curriculum on TeacherspayTeachers.com for toddlers to second graders and have gotten many compliments on my work.

Thankfully, some school districts will allow me to work as a teacher's aide in these grades and that is an absolute joy. They understand that due to the economy and need to work that many people can not afford to go back to school for a higher education at this time.

I salute these school districts and hope one day that talent and innate ability in working with the children will lead to a change in our school systems around the country.

It is sad that the compensation for Early Childhood professionals is still so low. As a new teacher back in the early 90's with a combination of elementary course work as well as early childhood, I was able to begin with a salary commensurate with the other teachers in a public school setting. However, for some reason, there is a notion that anyone with any BS degree can teach in Early Childhood.

Still one of the biggest hurdles in Early Childhood is that trilemma of quality, compensation and affordability. Here in Kansas, some of us have been looking at what a livable wage should be. In Kansas for an individual (no children) it would be about $24,000 a year. Teachers at the entry level with their BS in public school settings make about $42,000 a year, with a masters about $49,000 and with a doctorate about #57,000. While even these salaries seem a bit low, our early childhood professionals with the same degree levels should be making at least these amounts. Given this information, our teachers with CDA credentials should be making about $29,000 a year and with a two year, AS degree about $35,000. To say the least, this is not happening.

One thing that needs to change is the notion that anyone with a HS diploma can take care of and educate young children. In the private sector, to try to maintain affordability, warm and breathing seems to pass for quality. Yes, a qualified babysitter can take care of one or two children for brief amounts of time, but parents don't realize what is happening in child care centers with unqualified persons. Classrooms can look more like a scene from The Lord of the Flies.

I think as preschools become attached to public schools, they will require a teacher with a Bachelor's degree and salaries will be commensurate. I just hope it will be early childhood qualified professionals at the Bachelor's level and not just anyone with any education degree.

Personally, I would like to see universal Head Start and Early Head Start for all children with qualified professionals in all classrooms. I do think there could be a sliding scale for tuition based on family salaries. That would create more equitable classrooms, too, when having children together from all cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Given that so many of our early childhood settings are in private for profit settings, I do think that licensure/certification should follow the teachers in early childhood just as they do for other educators rather than just or in addition to the settings. In our area, much is given to businesses and industry in the form of TIF (Tax Increment Financing). TIF causes border wars between Missouri and Kansas where businesses are constantly moving back and forth to gain tax advantages. Recently Sly James (the outgoing major of Kansas City) tried to pass a bill for Early Childhood Education with a regressive tax on constituents. Needless to say, it didn't pass. What I would rather see, rather than TIF, are districts being set up around businesses and even farming communities that take into account all the childcare centers in their areas. Businesses and communities would then be designated to make a certain amount of charitable contributions (tax free or tax deductible) to the centers in their areas; but only when the centers are hiring highly qualified Early Childhood educators. It should be at least CDA credentialing at the teacher aid/floater levels, AS/two year degree teachers at the lead teacher levels and bachelors and up at the coordinating teacher/director levels. These tax incentives should follow the amount of contributions made to Early Childhood Care and Education.

With hope for the future,

Diana

Diana Hurst

MA Curriculum & Instruction: K-12 w/emphasis in Early Childhood Education Professor, Early Childhood Education Johnson County Community College

12345 College Boulevard

Box 36 Overland Park, Kansas 66212

Office: CLB 434 913.469.8500 ext 3492

Everyone knows that the mind will not be kept from contemplating what it loves. -Mary Astell

The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto ("e-mail") is sent by the Johnson County Community College ("JCCC") and is intended to be confidential and for the use of only the individual or entity named above. The information may be protected by federal and state privacy and disclosures acts or other legal rules. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are notified that retention, dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please immediately notify JCCC by email reply and immediately and permanently delete this e-mail message and any attachments thereto. Thank you.

13. RE: Salary

I am sorry you felt insulted by my comment. This comment was just used as an example of mine to further my points in my post. I know that all MAs are not researched based and work in centers. I mentioned this in my post. I have worked with those with high school degrees to Masters Degrees and so on. Everyone can be a hard worker and dedicated to his or her craft.

Yes, you may know more about child development through extra schooling and that is great. The point of my post is to say that everyone should have a chance to work and receive compensation based on the quality of their work, not just their education. ​I do not have that option in my state. It is very degree-based and theTeachers Union has a stronghold on career growth.

I could work ten times harder than a co-worker with a Masters Degree and they will always receive more money for the same job. This is truly disheartening and I feel the pressure of "not being good enough" to teach within a school district due to economic reasons. At this time, I am unable to afford to further my education so that I can teach in a school district.

It is wonderful to hear that your state is so progressive in allowing those who have proved themselves in the classroom a fighting chance for equal pay and status. I hope one day my state will follow in Nevada's footsteps.

@JenniferHatcher wrote "whereas someone with a Masters may feel more entitled and slack off on their work just because of their degree."I take exception to the fact that you say that about those of us with an MA. We are the ones that truely understand a child's social, emotional, physical, and educational well-being in every aspect of an activity. It's insulting to hear that we don't know how to put theory into practice. Not all MAs are in reserched based positions. We scrub toilets and change diapers like everyone.That being said, I have worked with non degree and CDA partners who have had equal or more pay than me and they are the best at what they do.Nevada has a career ladder and NAEYC has programs in place to recognize teaching positions. We are moving forward in informing and educating legislators.early ed for pres​identbaby steps​

I understand that quality early childhood education is the key to a promising future and teacher salaries should be based on their educational background (degrees) to a certain degree.

I have worked with many people that have Associates, Bachelors, and Master degrees that are excellent at teaching, but others who lack the true passion and teaching ability and are not as deserving of a higher salary than those who may only have a High School Diploma or CDA. They tend to be more "book smart", but lack the true understanding of a child's social, emotional, physical, and educational well-being.

I myself learned later in life that I wanted to work with young children. I had gone to a trade school be be an esthetician (spa technician), but found while working in the industry that it was not the best fit for me. I was then offered a position as a Youth Services Assistant at a library. Here I performed storytimes, created programming, bibliographies, helped patrons find books and do research without an MLIS. This was when I found my passion for working with young children.

I went back to school and received a Certificate in Early Childhood Education and also received my CDA Credential. I began working in daycare and found that many of the teachers lacked a true love of the profession and many did not have any wanting to make ECE their career.They had degrees in other fields and just fell "into the profession".

It is so ridiculous to say a person who has a high school diploma is not as qualified as someone with a Masters Degree to work in a daycare center as a lead teacher. Many people have life experience that lends to the richness and culture of the learning environment. They have wonderful ideas and put their plans into action, whereas someone with a Masters may feel more entitled and slack off on their work just because of their degree. In this respect, I would pay the person with the high school diploma a similar wage due to their eagerness and intelligence working with children.

It is hard to make a blanked statement that life experience, hard work, and passion cannot lead to a quality teacher. Just ask some of the richest men and women in the world who formed businesses with only a high school diploma such as Bill Gates this. I'm sure he would say something quite similar. Book smarts do not equal putting teaching skills into use.

I myself would love to work in a school district, but unfortunately do not have the correct degree to do so at this time. Many people have acknowledged my teaching ability and say that I would make a great Kindergarten, 1st, or 2nd grade teacher due to my hard work and diligence.

I also create curriculum on TeacherspayTeachers.com for toddlers to second graders and have gotten many compliments on my work.

Thankfully, some school districts will allow me to work as a teacher's aide in these grades and that is an absolute joy. They understand that due to the economy and need to work that many people can not afford to go back to school for a higher education at this time.

I salute these school districts and hope one day that talent and innate ability in working with the children will lead to a change in our school systems around the country.

It is sad that the compensation for Early Childhood professionals is still so low. As a new teacher back in the early 90's with a combination of elementary course work as well as early childhood, I was able to begin with a salary commensurate with the other teachers in a public school setting. However, for some reason, there is a notion that anyone with any BS degree can teach in Early Childhood.

Still one of the biggest hurdles in Early Childhood is that trilemma of quality, compensation and affordability. Here in Kansas, some of us have been looking at what a livable wage should be. In Kansas for an individual (no children) it would be about $24,000 a year. Teachers at the entry level with their BS in public school settings make about $42,000 a year, with a masters about $49,000 and with a doctorate about #57,000. While even these salaries seem a bit low, our early childhood professionals with the same degree levels should be making at least these amounts. Given this information, our teachers with CDA credentials should be making about $29,000 a year and with a two year, AS degree about $35,000. To say the least, this is not happening.

One thing that needs to change is the notion that anyone with a HS diploma can take care of and educate young children. In the private sector, to try to maintain affordability, warm and breathing seems to pass for quality. Yes, a qualified babysitter can take care of one or two children for brief amounts of time, but parents don't realize what is happening in child care centers with unqualified persons. Classrooms can look more like a scene from The Lord of the Flies.

I think as preschools become attached to public schools, they will require a teacher with a Bachelor's degree and salaries will be commensurate. I just hope it will be early childhood qualified professionals at the Bachelor's level and not just anyone with any education degree.

Personally, I would like to see universal Head Start and Early Head Start for all children with qualified professionals in all classrooms. I do think there could be a sliding scale for tuition based on family salaries. That would create more equitable classrooms, too, when having children together from all cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Given that so many of our early childhood settings are in private for profit settings, I do think that licensure/certification should follow the teachers in early childhood just as they do for other educators rather than just or in addition to the settings. In our area, much is given to businesses and industry in the form of TIF (Tax Increment Financing). TIF causes border wars between Missouri and Kansas where businesses are constantly moving back and forth to gain tax advantages. Recently Sly James (the outgoing major of Kansas City) tried to pass a bill for Early Childhood Education with a regressive tax on constituents. Needless to say, it didn't pass. What I would rather see, rather than TIF, are districts being set up around businesses and even farming communities that take into account all the childcare centers in their areas. Businesses and communities would then be designated to make a certain amount of charitable contributions (tax free or tax deductible) to the centers in their areas; but only when the centers are hiring highly qualified Early Childhood educators. It should be at least CDA credentialing at the teacher aid/floater levels, AS/two year degree teachers at the lead teacher levels and bachelors and up at the coordinating teacher/director levels. These tax incentives should follow the amount of contributions made to Early Childhood Care and Education.

With hope for the future,

Diana

Diana Hurst

MA Curriculum & Instruction: K-12 w/emphasis in Early Childhood Education Professor, Early Childhood Education Johnson County Community College

12345 College Boulevard

Box 36 Overland Park, Kansas 66212

Office: CLB 434 913.469.8500 ext 3492

Everyone knows that the mind will not be kept from contemplating what it loves. -Mary Astell

The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto ("e-mail") is sent by the Johnson County Community College ("JCCC") and is intended to be confidential and for the use of only the individual or entity named above. The information may be protected by federal and state privacy and disclosures acts or other legal rules. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are notified that retention, dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please immediately notify JCCC by email reply and immediately and permanently delete this e-mail message and any attachments thereto. Thank you.

14. RE: Salary

I too was insulted by Jennifer's posts as well as Janelle Schmidt's. We know from brain research that preschool is a child's most important educational experience. That's why NAEYC is trying to professionalize the field (and increase salaries) by encouraging further knowledge and awareness of instructional methods, development, cultures, communities, etc. Early childhood has it's own pedagogy and mastering it is important. A good teacher needs to know the reasoning, history and research behind the practices. When challenging situations arise, I go to the research and know how to read and evaluate it.

I didn't know what I didn't know until I went to grad school. The learning built on what I knew as well as introduce me to new ideas through a variety of experiences; practicums, internships and "real life experiences" even though I had been teaching for 15 years. I know there are people who are naturally good with children but they need to add that to a strong educational background to make them the teacher every young child deserves.

I am sorry you felt insulted by my comment. This comment was just used as an example of mine to further my points in my post. I know that all MAs are not researched based and work in centers. I mentioned this in my post. I have worked with those with high school degrees to Masters Degrees and so on. Everyone can be a hard worker and dedicated to his or her craft.

Yes, you may know more about child development through extra schooling and that is great. The point of my post is to say that everyone should have a chance to work and receive compensation based on the quality of their work, not just their education. ​I do not have that option in my state. It is very degree-based and theTeachers Union has a stronghold on career growth.

I could work ten times harder than a co-worker with a Masters Degree and they will always receive more money for the same job. This is truly disheartening and I feel the pressure of "not being good enough" to teach within a school district due to economic reasons. At this time, I am unable to afford to further my education so that I can teach in a school district.

It is wonderful to hear that your state is so progressive in allowing those who have proved themselves in the classroom a fighting chance for equal pay and status. I hope one day my state will follow in Nevada's footsteps.

@JenniferHatcher wrote "whereas someone with a Masters may feel more entitled and slack off on their work just because of their degree."I take exception to the fact that you say that about those of us with an MA. We are the ones that truely understand a child's social, emotional, physical, and educational well-being in every aspect of an activity. It's insulting to hear that we don't know how to put theory into practice. Not all MAs are in reserched based positions. We scrub toilets and change diapers like everyone.That being said, I have worked with non degree and CDA partners who have had equal or more pay than me and they are the best at what they do.Nevada has a career ladder and NAEYC has programs in place to recognize teaching positions. We are moving forward in informing and educating legislators.early ed for pres​identbaby steps​

I understand that quality early childhood education is the key to a promising future and teacher salaries should be based on their educational background (degrees) to a certain degree.

I have worked with many people that have Associates, Bachelors, and Master degrees that are excellent at teaching, but others who lack the true passion and teaching ability and are not as deserving of a higher salary than those who may only have a High School Diploma or CDA. They tend to be more "book smart", but lack the true understanding of a child's social, emotional, physical, and educational well-being.

I myself learned later in life that I wanted to work with young children. I had gone to a trade school be be an esthetician (spa technician), but found while working in the industry that it was not the best fit for me. I was then offered a position as a Youth Services Assistant at a library. Here I performed storytimes, created programming, bibliographies, helped patrons find books and do research without an MLIS. This was when I found my passion for working with young children.

I went back to school and received a Certificate in Early Childhood Education and also received my CDA Credential. I began working in daycare and found that many of the teachers lacked a true love of the profession and many did not have any wanting to make ECE their career.They had degrees in other fields and just fell "into the profession".

It is so ridiculous to say a person who has a high school diploma is not as qualified as someone with a Masters Degree to work in a daycare center as a lead teacher. Many people have life experience that lends to the richness and culture of the learning environment. They have wonderful ideas and put their plans into action, whereas someone with a Masters may feel more entitled and slack off on their work just because of their degree. In this respect, I would pay the person with the high school diploma a similar wage due to their eagerness and intelligence working with children.

It is hard to make a blanked statement that life experience, hard work, and passion cannot lead to a quality teacher. Just ask some of the richest men and women in the world who formed businesses with only a high school diploma such as Bill Gates this. I'm sure he would say something quite similar. Book smarts do not equal putting teaching skills into use.

I myself would love to work in a school district, but unfortunately do not have the correct degree to do so at this time. Many people have acknowledged my teaching ability and say that I would make a great Kindergarten, 1st, or 2nd grade teacher due to my hard work and diligence.

I also create curriculum on TeacherspayTeachers.com for toddlers to second graders and have gotten many compliments on my work.

Thankfully, some school districts will allow me to work as a teacher's aide in these grades and that is an absolute joy. They understand that due to the economy and need to work that many people can not afford to go back to school for a higher education at this time.

I salute these school districts and hope one day that talent and innate ability in working with the children will lead to a change in our school systems around the country.

It is sad that the compensation for Early Childhood professionals is still so low. As a new teacher back in the early 90's with a combination of elementary course work as well as early childhood, I was able to begin with a salary commensurate with the other teachers in a public school setting. However, for some reason, there is a notion that anyone with any BS degree can teach in Early Childhood.

Still one of the biggest hurdles in Early Childhood is that trilemma of quality, compensation and affordability. Here in Kansas, some of us have been looking at what a livable wage should be. In Kansas for an individual (no children) it would be about $24,000 a year. Teachers at the entry level with their BS in public school settings make about $42,000 a year, with a masters about $49,000 and with a doctorate about #57,000. While even these salaries seem a bit low, our early childhood professionals with the same degree levels should be making at least these amounts. Given this information, our teachers with CDA credentials should be making about $29,000 a year and with a two year, AS degree about $35,000. To say the least, this is not happening.

One thing that needs to change is the notion that anyone with a HS diploma can take care of and educate young children. In the private sector, to try to maintain affordability, warm and breathing seems to pass for quality. Yes, a qualified babysitter can take care of one or two children for brief amounts of time, but parents don't realize what is happening in child care centers with unqualified persons. Classrooms can look more like a scene from The Lord of the Flies.

I think as preschools become attached to public schools, they will require a teacher with a Bachelor's degree and salaries will be commensurate. I just hope it will be early childhood qualified professionals at the Bachelor's level and not just anyone with any education degree.

Personally, I would like to see universal Head Start and Early Head Start for all children with qualified professionals in all classrooms. I do think there could be a sliding scale for tuition based on family salaries. That would create more equitable classrooms, too, when having children together from all cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Given that so many of our early childhood settings are in private for profit settings, I do think that licensure/certification should follow the teachers in early childhood just as they do for other educators rather than just or in addition to the settings. In our area, much is given to businesses and industry in the form of TIF (Tax Increment Financing). TIF causes border wars between Missouri and Kansas where businesses are constantly moving back and forth to gain tax advantages. Recently Sly James (the outgoing major of Kansas City) tried to pass a bill for Early Childhood Education with a regressive tax on constituents. Needless to say, it didn't pass. What I would rather see, rather than TIF, are districts being set up around businesses and even farming communities that take into account all the childcare centers in their areas. Businesses and communities would then be designated to make a certain amount of charitable contributions (tax free or tax deductible) to the centers in their areas; but only when the centers are hiring highly qualified Early Childhood educators. It should be at least CDA credentialing at the teacher aid/floater levels, AS/two year degree teachers at the lead teacher levels and bachelors and up at the coordinating teacher/director levels. These tax incentives should follow the amount of contributions made to Early Childhood Care and Education.

With hope for the future,

Diana

Diana Hurst

MA Curriculum & Instruction: K-12 w/emphasis in Early Childhood Education Professor, Early Childhood Education Johnson County Community College

12345 College Boulevard

Box 36 Overland Park, Kansas 66212

Office: CLB 434 913.469.8500 ext 3492

Everyone knows that the mind will not be kept from contemplating what it loves. -Mary Astell

The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto ("e-mail") is sent by the Johnson County Community College ("JCCC") and is intended to be confidential and for the use of only the individual or entity named above. The information may be protected by federal and state privacy and disclosures acts or other legal rules. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are notified that retention, dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please immediately notify JCCC by email reply and immediately and permanently delete this e-mail message and any attachments thereto. Thank you.

15. RE: Salary

I never meant to offend anyone, but I still maintain that a degree does not equal better or more worthy financially. It is offensive to those excellent ECE teachers who do not have higher degrees to imply that as well. I consider the PERSON and what I see them doing with the children to equal quality. The same can be said about teachers in K-12, or people in other jobs outside of education. If it becomes a requirement, fine, but I would be afraid that I would lose quality teachers who can't afford or are unable to go (back) to school for whatever reason.

I too was insulted by Jennifer's posts as well as Janelle Schmidt's. We know from brain research that preschool is a child's most important educational experience. That's why NAEYC is trying to professionalize the field (and increase salaries) by encouraging further knowledge and awareness of instructional methods, development, cultures, communities, etc. Early childhood has it's own pedagogy and mastering it is important. A good teacher needs to know the reasoning, history and research behind the practices. When challenging situations arise, I go to the research and know how to read and evaluate it.

I didn't know what I didn't know until I went to grad school. The learning built on what I knew as well as introduce me to new ideas through a variety of experiences; practicums, internships and "real life experiences" even though I had been teaching for 15 years. I know there are people who are naturally good with children but they need to add that to a strong educational background to make them the teacher every young child deserves.

I am sorry you felt insulted by my comment. This comment was just used as an example of mine to further my points in my post. I know that all MAs are not researched based and work in centers. I mentioned this in my post. I have worked with those with high school degrees to Masters Degrees and so on. Everyone can be a hard worker and dedicated to his or her craft.

Yes, you may know more about child development through extra schooling and that is great. The point of my post is to say that everyone should have a chance to work and receive compensation based on the quality of their work, not just their education. ​I do not have that option in my state. It is very degree-based and theTeachers Union has a stronghold on career growth.

I could work ten times harder than a co-worker with a Masters Degree and they will always receive more money for the same job. This is truly disheartening and I feel the pressure of "not being good enough" to teach within a school district due to economic reasons. At this time, I am unable to afford to further my education so that I can teach in a school district.

It is wonderful to hear that your state is so progressive in allowing those who have proved themselves in the classroom a fighting chance for equal pay and status. I hope one day my state will follow in Nevada's footsteps.

@JenniferHatcher wrote "whereas someone with a Masters may feel more entitled and slack off on their work just because of their degree."I take exception to the fact that you say that about those of us with an MA. We are the ones that truely understand a child's social, emotional, physical, and educational well-being in every aspect of an activity. It's insulting to hear that we don't know how to put theory into practice. Not all MAs are in reserched based positions. We scrub toilets and change diapers like everyone.That being said, I have worked with non degree and CDA partners who have had equal or more pay than me and they are the best at what they do.Nevada has a career ladder and NAEYC has programs in place to recognize teaching positions. We are moving forward in informing and educating legislators.early ed for pres​identbaby steps​

I understand that quality early childhood education is the key to a promising future and teacher salaries should be based on their educational background (degrees) to a certain degree.

I have worked with many people that have Associates, Bachelors, and Master degrees that are excellent at teaching, but others who lack the true passion and teaching ability and are not as deserving of a higher salary than those who may only have a High School Diploma or CDA. They tend to be more "book smart", but lack the true understanding of a child's social, emotional, physical, and educational well-being.

I myself learned later in life that I wanted to work with young children. I had gone to a trade school be be an esthetician (spa technician), but found while working in the industry that it was not the best fit for me. I was then offered a position as a Youth Services Assistant at a library. Here I performed storytimes, created programming, bibliographies, helped patrons find books and do research without an MLIS. This was when I found my passion for working with young children.

I went back to school and received a Certificate in Early Childhood Education and also received my CDA Credential. I began working in daycare and found that many of the teachers lacked a true love of the profession and many did not have any wanting to make ECE their career.They had degrees in other fields and just fell "into the profession".

It is so ridiculous to say a person who has a high school diploma is not as qualified as someone with a Masters Degree to work in a daycare center as a lead teacher. Many people have life experience that lends to the richness and culture of the learning environment. They have wonderful ideas and put their plans into action, whereas someone with a Masters may feel more entitled and slack off on their work just because of their degree. In this respect, I would pay the person with the high school diploma a similar wage due to their eagerness and intelligence working with children.

It is hard to make a blanked statement that life experience, hard work, and passion cannot lead to a quality teacher. Just ask some of the richest men and women in the world who formed businesses with only a high school diploma such as Bill Gates this. I'm sure he would say something quite similar. Book smarts do not equal putting teaching skills into use.

I myself would love to work in a school district, but unfortunately do not have the correct degree to do so at this time. Many people have acknowledged my teaching ability and say that I would make a great Kindergarten, 1st, or 2nd grade teacher due to my hard work and diligence.

I also create curriculum on TeacherspayTeachers.com for toddlers to second graders and have gotten many compliments on my work.

Thankfully, some school districts will allow me to work as a teacher's aide in these grades and that is an absolute joy. They understand that due to the economy and need to work that many people can not afford to go back to school for a higher education at this time.

I salute these school districts and hope one day that talent and innate ability in working with the children will lead to a change in our school systems around the country.

It is sad that the compensation for Early Childhood professionals is still so low. As a new teacher back in the early 90's with a combination of elementary course work as well as early childhood, I was able to begin with a salary commensurate with the other teachers in a public school setting. However, for some reason, there is a notion that anyone with any BS degree can teach in Early Childhood.

Still one of the biggest hurdles in Early Childhood is that trilemma of quality, compensation and affordability. Here in Kansas, some of us have been looking at what a livable wage should be. In Kansas for an individual (no children) it would be about $24,000 a year. Teachers at the entry level with their BS in public school settings make about $42,000 a year, with a masters about $49,000 and with a doctorate about #57,000. While even these salaries seem a bit low, our early childhood professionals with the same degree levels should be making at least these amounts. Given this information, our teachers with CDA credentials should be making about $29,000 a year and with a two year, AS degree about $35,000. To say the least, this is not happening.

One thing that needs to change is the notion that anyone with a HS diploma can take care of and educate young children. In the private sector, to try to maintain affordability, warm and breathing seems to pass for quality. Yes, a qualified babysitter can take care of one or two children for brief amounts of time, but parents don't realize what is happening in child care centers with unqualified persons. Classrooms can look more like a scene from The Lord of the Flies.

I think as preschools become attached to public schools, they will require a teacher with a Bachelor's degree and salaries will be commensurate. I just hope it will be early childhood qualified professionals at the Bachelor's level and not just anyone with any education degree.

Personally, I would like to see universal Head Start and Early Head Start for all children with qualified professionals in all classrooms. I do think there could be a sliding scale for tuition based on family salaries. That would create more equitable classrooms, too, when having children together from all cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Given that so many of our early childhood settings are in private for profit settings, I do think that licensure/certification should follow the teachers in early childhood just as they do for other educators rather than just or in addition to the settings. In our area, much is given to businesses and industry in the form of TIF (Tax Increment Financing). TIF causes border wars between Missouri and Kansas where businesses are constantly moving back and forth to gain tax advantages. Recently Sly James (the outgoing major of Kansas City) tried to pass a bill for Early Childhood Education with a regressive tax on constituents. Needless to say, it didn't pass. What I would rather see, rather than TIF, are districts being set up around businesses and even farming communities that take into account all the childcare centers in their areas. Businesses and communities would then be designated to make a certain amount of charitable contributions (tax free or tax deductible) to the centers in their areas; but only when the centers are hiring highly qualified Early Childhood educators. It should be at least CDA credentialing at the teacher aid/floater levels, AS/two year degree teachers at the lead teacher levels and bachelors and up at the coordinating teacher/director levels. These tax incentives should follow the amount of contributions made to Early Childhood Care and Education.

With hope for the future,

Diana

Diana Hurst

MA Curriculum & Instruction: K-12 w/emphasis in Early Childhood Education Professor, Early Childhood Education Johnson County Community College

12345 College Boulevard

Box 36 Overland Park, Kansas 66212

Office: CLB 434 913.469.8500 ext 3492

Everyone knows that the mind will not be kept from contemplating what it loves. -Mary Astell

The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto ("e-mail") is sent by the Johnson County Community College ("JCCC") and is intended to be confidential and for the use of only the individual or entity named above. The information may be protected by federal and state privacy and disclosures acts or other legal rules. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are notified that retention, dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please immediately notify JCCC by email reply and immediately and permanently delete this e-mail message and any attachments thereto. Thank you.

16. RE: Salary

Thank you Janelle for standing up for all the teachers without degrees who work just as hard as those with higher degrees. Everyday life experience can equal just as much as a degree. I myself continually read articles, watch webnairs, and expand my education through free resources that are presented by high-quality professors and professionals in the field on my own time.

I do have a college certificate and a CDA, I will always be considered less educated than those who have attended four year colleges and higher, but I will continue to educate myself through these resources and further my education this way.

I never meant to offend anyone, but I still maintain that a degree does not equal better or more worthy financially. It is offensive to those excellent ECE teachers who do not have higher degrees to imply that as well. I consider the PERSON and what I see them doing with the children to equal quality. The same can be said about teachers in K-12, or people in other jobs outside of education. If it becomes a requirement, fine, but I would be afraid that I would lose quality teachers who can't afford or are unable to go (back) to school for whatever reason.

I too was insulted by Jennifer's posts as well as Janelle Schmidt's. We know from brain research that preschool is a child's most important educational experience. That's why NAEYC is trying to professionalize the field (and increase salaries) by encouraging further knowledge and awareness of instructional methods, development, cultures, communities, etc. Early childhood has it's own pedagogy and mastering it is important. A good teacher needs to know the reasoning, history and research behind the practices. When challenging situations arise, I go to the research and know how to read and evaluate it.

I didn't know what I didn't know until I went to grad school. The learning built on what I knew as well as introduce me to new ideas through a variety of experiences; practicums, internships and "real life experiences" even though I had been teaching for 15 years. I know there are people who are naturally good with children but they need to add that to a strong educational background to make them the teacher every young child deserves.

I am sorry you felt insulted by my comment. This comment was just used as an example of mine to further my points in my post. I know that all MAs are not researched based and work in centers. I mentioned this in my post. I have worked with those with high school degrees to Masters Degrees and so on. Everyone can be a hard worker and dedicated to his or her craft.

Yes, you may know more about child development through extra schooling and that is great. The point of my post is to say that everyone should have a chance to work and receive compensation based on the quality of their work, not just their education. ​I do not have that option in my state. It is very degree-based and theTeachers Union has a stronghold on career growth.

I could work ten times harder than a co-worker with a Masters Degree and they will always receive more money for the same job. This is truly disheartening and I feel the pressure of "not being good enough" to teach within a school district due to economic reasons. At this time, I am unable to afford to further my education so that I can teach in a school district.

It is wonderful to hear that your state is so progressive in allowing those who have proved themselves in the classroom a fighting chance for equal pay and status. I hope one day my state will follow in Nevada's footsteps.

@JenniferHatcher wrote "whereas someone with a Masters may feel more entitled and slack off on their work just because of their degree."I take exception to the fact that you say that about those of us with an MA. We are the ones that truely understand a child's social, emotional, physical, and educational well-being in every aspect of an activity. It's insulting to hear that we don't know how to put theory into practice. Not all MAs are in reserched based positions. We scrub toilets and change diapers like everyone.That being said, I have worked with non degree and CDA partners who have had equal or more pay than me and they are the best at what they do.Nevada has a career ladder and NAEYC has programs in place to recognize teaching positions. We are moving forward in informing and educating legislators.early ed for pres​identbaby steps​

I understand that quality early childhood education is the key to a promising future and teacher salaries should be based on their educational background (degrees) to a certain degree.

I have worked with many people that have Associates, Bachelors, and Master degrees that are excellent at teaching, but others who lack the true passion and teaching ability and are not as deserving of a higher salary than those who may only have a High School Diploma or CDA. They tend to be more "book smart", but lack the true understanding of a child's social, emotional, physical, and educational well-being.

I myself learned later in life that I wanted to work with young children. I had gone to a trade school be be an esthetician (spa technician), but found while working in the industry that it was not the best fit for me. I was then offered a position as a Youth Services Assistant at a library. Here I performed storytimes, created programming, bibliographies, helped patrons find books and do research without an MLIS. This was when I found my passion for working with young children.

I went back to school and received a Certificate in Early Childhood Education and also received my CDA Credential. I began working in daycare and found that many of the teachers lacked a true love of the profession and many did not have any wanting to make ECE their career.They had degrees in other fields and just fell "into the profession".

It is so ridiculous to say a person who has a high school diploma is not as qualified as someone with a Masters Degree to work in a daycare center as a lead teacher. Many people have life experience that lends to the richness and culture of the learning environment. They have wonderful ideas and put their plans into action, whereas someone with a Masters may feel more entitled and slack off on their work just because of their degree. In this respect, I would pay the person with the high school diploma a similar wage due to their eagerness and intelligence working with children.

It is hard to make a blanked statement that life experience, hard work, and passion cannot lead to a quality teacher. Just ask some of the richest men and women in the world who formed businesses with only a high school diploma such as Bill Gates this. I'm sure he would say something quite similar. Book smarts do not equal putting teaching skills into use.

I myself would love to work in a school district, but unfortunately do not have the correct degree to do so at this time. Many people have acknowledged my teaching ability and say that I would make a great Kindergarten, 1st, or 2nd grade teacher due to my hard work and diligence.

I also create curriculum on TeacherspayTeachers.com for toddlers to second graders and have gotten many compliments on my work.

Thankfully, some school districts will allow me to work as a teacher's aide in these grades and that is an absolute joy. They understand that due to the economy and need to work that many people can not afford to go back to school for a higher education at this time.

I salute these school districts and hope one day that talent and innate ability in working with the children will lead to a change in our school systems around the country.

It is sad that the compensation for Early Childhood professionals is still so low. As a new teacher back in the early 90's with a combination of elementary course work as well as early childhood, I was able to begin with a salary commensurate with the other teachers in a public school setting. However, for some reason, there is a notion that anyone with any BS degree can teach in Early Childhood.

Still one of the biggest hurdles in Early Childhood is that trilemma of quality, compensation and affordability. Here in Kansas, some of us have been looking at what a livable wage should be. In Kansas for an individual (no children) it would be about $24,000 a year. Teachers at the entry level with their BS in public school settings make about $42,000 a year, with a masters about $49,000 and with a doctorate about #57,000. While even these salaries seem a bit low, our early childhood professionals with the same degree levels should be making at least these amounts. Given this information, our teachers with CDA credentials should be making about $29,000 a year and with a two year, AS degree about $35,000. To say the least, this is not happening.

One thing that needs to change is the notion that anyone with a HS diploma can take care of and educate young children. In the private sector, to try to maintain affordability, warm and breathing seems to pass for quality. Yes, a qualified babysitter can take care of one or two children for brief amounts of time, but parents don't realize what is happening in child care centers with unqualified persons. Classrooms can look more like a scene from The Lord of the Flies.

I think as preschools become attached to public schools, they will require a teacher with a Bachelor's degree and salaries will be commensurate. I just hope it will be early childhood qualified professionals at the Bachelor's level and not just anyone with any education degree.

Personally, I would like to see universal Head Start and Early Head Start for all children with qualified professionals in all classrooms. I do think there could be a sliding scale for tuition based on family salaries. That would create more equitable classrooms, too, when having children together from all cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Given that so many of our early childhood settings are in private for profit settings, I do think that licensure/certification should follow the teachers in early childhood just as they do for other educators rather than just or in addition to the settings. In our area, much is given to businesses and industry in the form of TIF (Tax Increment Financing). TIF causes border wars between Missouri and Kansas where businesses are constantly moving back and forth to gain tax advantages. Recently Sly James (the outgoing major of Kansas City) tried to pass a bill for Early Childhood Education with a regressive tax on constituents. Needless to say, it didn't pass. What I would rather see, rather than TIF, are districts being set up around businesses and even farming communities that take into account all the childcare centers in their areas. Businesses and communities would then be designated to make a certain amount of charitable contributions (tax free or tax deductible) to the centers in their areas; but only when the centers are hiring highly qualified Early Childhood educators. It should be at least CDA credentialing at the teacher aid/floater levels, AS/two year degree teachers at the lead teacher levels and bachelors and up at the coordinating teacher/director levels. These tax incentives should follow the amount of contributions made to Early Childhood Care and Education.

With hope for the future,

Diana

Diana Hurst

MA Curriculum & Instruction: K-12 w/emphasis in Early Childhood Education Professor, Early Childhood Education Johnson County Community College

12345 College Boulevard

Box 36 Overland Park, Kansas 66212

Office: CLB 434 913.469.8500 ext 3492

Everyone knows that the mind will not be kept from contemplating what it loves. -Mary Astell

The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto ("e-mail") is sent by the Johnson County Community College ("JCCC") and is intended to be confidential and for the use of only the individual or entity named above. The information may be protected by federal and state privacy and disclosures acts or other legal rules. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are notified that retention, dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please immediately notify JCCC by email reply and immediately and permanently delete this e-mail message and any attachments thereto. Thank you.

17. RE: Salary

Jennifer and Janelle, I hear where you're coming from. Knowledge can come from a variety of ways, and if you are determined to learn what is currently available knowledge, it will make you an excellent teacher.

What comes off as "insulting" is a perceived lack of respect for the brain research that is new and currently driving this profession in a direction that means administrators are seeking people who have this knowledge under their belt already. It doesn't mean they "work harder" than someone else. But many teachers who earned a Master's in ECE will have a deeper understanding of HOW children actually construct their knowledge; WHY dual-language learners need specific types of instructional support; WHEN to utilize some old school projects vs new techniques like Loose Parts or Nature-based activities.

It's not EITHER the degree OR the hard-working teacher: Excellence requires both upping your current knowledge base AND ROLLING up your sleeves and getting dirty.

Thank you Janelle for standing up for all the teachers without degrees who work just as hard as those with higher degrees. Everyday life experience can equal just as much as a degree. I myself continually read articles, watch webnairs, and expand my education through free resources that are presented by high-quality professors and professionals in the field on my own time.

I do have a college certificate and a CDA, I will always be considered less educated than those who have attended four year colleges and higher, but I will continue to educate myself through these resources and further my education this way.

I never meant to offend anyone, but I still maintain that a degree does not equal better or more worthy financially. It is offensive to those excellent ECE teachers who do not have higher degrees to imply that as well. I consider the PERSON and what I see them doing with the children to equal quality. The same can be said about teachers in K-12, or people in other jobs outside of education. If it becomes a requirement, fine, but I would be afraid that I would lose quality teachers who can't afford or are unable to go (back) to school for whatever reason.

I too was insulted by Jennifer's posts as well as Janelle Schmidt's. We know from brain research that preschool is a child's most important educational experience. That's why NAEYC is trying to professionalize the field (and increase salaries) by encouraging further knowledge and awareness of instructional methods, development, cultures, communities, etc. Early childhood has it's own pedagogy and mastering it is important. A good teacher needs to know the reasoning, history and research behind the practices. When challenging situations arise, I go to the research and know how to read and evaluate it.

I didn't know what I didn't know until I went to grad school. The learning built on what I knew as well as introduce me to new ideas through a variety of experiences; practicums, internships and "real life experiences" even though I had been teaching for 15 years. I know there are people who are naturally good with children but they need to add that to a strong educational background to make them the teacher every young child deserves.

I am sorry you felt insulted by my comment. This comment was just used as an example of mine to further my points in my post. I know that all MAs are not researched based and work in centers. I mentioned this in my post. I have worked with those with high school degrees to Masters Degrees and so on. Everyone can be a hard worker and dedicated to his or her craft.

Yes, you may know more about child development through extra schooling and that is great. The point of my post is to say that everyone should have a chance to work and receive compensation based on the quality of their work, not just their education. ​I do not have that option in my state. It is very degree-based and theTeachers Union has a stronghold on career growth.

I could work ten times harder than a co-worker with a Masters Degree and they will always receive more money for the same job. This is truly disheartening and I feel the pressure of "not being good enough" to teach within a school district due to economic reasons. At this time, I am unable to afford to further my education so that I can teach in a school district.

It is wonderful to hear that your state is so progressive in allowing those who have proved themselves in the classroom a fighting chance for equal pay and status. I hope one day my state will follow in Nevada's footsteps.

@JenniferHatcher wrote "whereas someone with a Masters may feel more entitled and slack off on their work just because of their degree."I take exception to the fact that you say that about those of us with an MA. We are the ones that truely understand a child's social, emotional, physical, and educational well-being in every aspect of an activity. It's insulting to hear that we don't know how to put theory into practice. Not all MAs are in reserched based positions. We scrub toilets and change diapers like everyone.That being said, I have worked with non degree and CDA partners who have had equal or more pay than me and they are the best at what they do.Nevada has a career ladder and NAEYC has programs in place to recognize teaching positions. We are moving forward in informing and educating legislators.early ed for pres​identbaby steps​

I understand that quality early childhood education is the key to a promising future and teacher salaries should be based on their educational background (degrees) to a certain degree.

I have worked with many people that have Associates, Bachelors, and Master degrees that are excellent at teaching, but others who lack the true passion and teaching ability and are not as deserving of a higher salary than those who may only have a High School Diploma or CDA. They tend to be more "book smart", but lack the true understanding of a child's social, emotional, physical, and educational well-being.

I myself learned later in life that I wanted to work with young children. I had gone to a trade school be be an esthetician (spa technician), but found while working in the industry that it was not the best fit for me. I was then offered a position as a Youth Services Assistant at a library. Here I performed storytimes, created programming, bibliographies, helped patrons find books and do research without an MLIS. This was when I found my passion for working with young children.

I went back to school and received a Certificate in Early Childhood Education and also received my CDA Credential. I began working in daycare and found that many of the teachers lacked a true love of the profession and many did not have any wanting to make ECE their career.They had degrees in other fields and just fell "into the profession".

It is so ridiculous to say a person who has a high school diploma is not as qualified as someone with a Masters Degree to work in a daycare center as a lead teacher. Many people have life experience that lends to the richness and culture of the learning environment. They have wonderful ideas and put their plans into action, whereas someone with a Masters may feel more entitled and slack off on their work just because of their degree. In this respect, I would pay the person with the high school diploma a similar wage due to their eagerness and intelligence working with children.

It is hard to make a blanked statement that life experience, hard work, and passion cannot lead to a quality teacher. Just ask some of the richest men and women in the world who formed businesses with only a high school diploma such as Bill Gates this. I'm sure he would say something quite similar. Book smarts do not equal putting teaching skills into use.

I myself would love to work in a school district, but unfortunately do not have the correct degree to do so at this time. Many people have acknowledged my teaching ability and say that I would make a great Kindergarten, 1st, or 2nd grade teacher due to my hard work and diligence.

I also create curriculum on TeacherspayTeachers.com for toddlers to second graders and have gotten many compliments on my work.

Thankfully, some school districts will allow me to work as a teacher's aide in these grades and that is an absolute joy. They understand that due to the economy and need to work that many people can not afford to go back to school for a higher education at this time.

I salute these school districts and hope one day that talent and innate ability in working with the children will lead to a change in our school systems around the country.

It is sad that the compensation for Early Childhood professionals is still so low. As a new teacher back in the early 90's with a combination of elementary course work as well as early childhood, I was able to begin with a salary commensurate with the other teachers in a public school setting. However, for some reason, there is a notion that anyone with any BS degree can teach in Early Childhood.

Still one of the biggest hurdles in Early Childhood is that trilemma of quality, compensation and affordability. Here in Kansas, some of us have been looking at what a livable wage should be. In Kansas for an individual (no children) it would be about $24,000 a year. Teachers at the entry level with their BS in public school settings make about $42,000 a year, with a masters about $49,000 and with a doctorate about #57,000. While even these salaries seem a bit low, our early childhood professionals with the same degree levels should be making at least these amounts. Given this information, our teachers with CDA credentials should be making about $29,000 a year and with a two year, AS degree about $35,000. To say the least, this is not happening.

One thing that needs to change is the notion that anyone with a HS diploma can take care of and educate young children. In the private sector, to try to maintain affordability, warm and breathing seems to pass for quality. Yes, a qualified babysitter can take care of one or two children for brief amounts of time, but parents don't realize what is happening in child care centers with unqualified persons. Classrooms can look more like a scene from The Lord of the Flies.

I think as preschools become attached to public schools, they will require a teacher with a Bachelor's degree and salaries will be commensurate. I just hope it will be early childhood qualified professionals at the Bachelor's level and not just anyone with any education degree.

Personally, I would like to see universal Head Start and Early Head Start for all children with qualified professionals in all classrooms. I do think there could be a sliding scale for tuition based on family salaries. That would create more equitable classrooms, too, when having children together from all cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Given that so many of our early childhood settings are in private for profit settings, I do think that licensure/certification should follow the teachers in early childhood just as they do for other educators rather than just or in addition to the settings. In our area, much is given to businesses and industry in the form of TIF (Tax Increment Financing). TIF causes border wars between Missouri and Kansas where businesses are constantly moving back and forth to gain tax advantages. Recently Sly James (the outgoing major of Kansas City) tried to pass a bill for Early Childhood Education with a regressive tax on constituents. Needless to say, it didn't pass. What I would rather see, rather than TIF, are districts being set up around businesses and even farming communities that take into account all the childcare centers in their areas. Businesses and communities would then be designated to make a certain amount of charitable contributions (tax free or tax deductible) to the centers in their areas; but only when the centers are hiring highly qualified Early Childhood educators. It should be at least CDA credentialing at the teacher aid/floater levels, AS/two year degree teachers at the lead teacher levels and bachelors and up at the coordinating teacher/director levels. These tax incentives should follow the amount of contributions made to Early Childhood Care and Education.

With hope for the future,

Diana

Diana Hurst

MA Curriculum & Instruction: K-12 w/emphasis in Early Childhood Education Professor, Early Childhood Education Johnson County Community College

12345 College Boulevard

Box 36 Overland Park, Kansas 66212

Office: CLB 434 913.469.8500 ext 3492

Everyone knows that the mind will not be kept from contemplating what it loves. -Mary Astell

The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto ("e-mail") is sent by the Johnson County Community College ("JCCC") and is intended to be confidential and for the use of only the individual or entity named above. The information may be protected by federal and state privacy and disclosures acts or other legal rules. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are notified that retention, dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please immediately notify JCCC by email reply and immediately and permanently delete this e-mail message and any attachments thereto. Thank you.

18. RE: Salary

Yes, I agree with you Mars (is this your first name?). Experience and knowledge both put together works better than only experience. I am a FCC provider but have a Masters in Child Development - I chose to be hands on with Infants & Toddlers as that is my passion and I also teach at Community Colleges - I benefit both ways - I teach what I do with deeper and broader understanding and my program at home also has an advantage of me refreshing my knowledge every time I teach a class and put it in practice.Another point is that each state has different rules and regulations which really bothers me - as children are growing and developing in the same way everywhere, teachers/providers in ECE are perceived as "Babysitters" rather than "Educarers" - we need to be a professional with required education- to be accepted/treated/paid at par with other professions.

Jennifer and Janelle, I hear where you're coming from. Knowledge can come from a variety of ways, and if you are determined to learn what is currently available knowledge, it will make you an excellent teacher.

What comes off as "insulting" is a perceived lack of respect for the brain research that is new and currently driving this profession in a direction that means administrators are seeking people who have this knowledge under their belt already. It doesn't mean they "work harder" than someone else. But many teachers who earned a Master's in ECE will have a deeper understanding of HOW children actually construct their knowledge; WHY dual-language learners need specific types of instructional support; WHEN to utilize some old school projects vs new techniques like Loose Parts or Nature-based activities.

It's not EITHER the degree OR the hard-working teacher: Excellence requires both upping your current knowledge base AND ROLLING up your sleeves and getting dirty.

Thank you Janelle for standing up for all the teachers without degrees who work just as hard as those with higher degrees. Everyday life experience can equal just as much as a degree. I myself continually read articles, watch webnairs, and expand my education through free resources that are presented by high-quality professors and professionals in the field on my own time.

I do have a college certificate and a CDA, I will always be considered less educated than those who have attended four year colleges and higher, but I will continue to educate myself through these resources and further my education this way.

I never meant to offend anyone, but I still maintain that a degree does not equal better or more worthy financially. It is offensive to those excellent ECE teachers who do not have higher degrees to imply that as well. I consider the PERSON and what I see them doing with the children to equal quality. The same can be said about teachers in K-12, or people in other jobs outside of education. If it becomes a requirement, fine, but I would be afraid that I would lose quality teachers who can't afford or are unable to go (back) to school for whatever reason.

I too was insulted by Jennifer's posts as well as Janelle Schmidt's. We know from brain research that preschool is a child's most important educational experience. That's why NAEYC is trying to professionalize the field (and increase salaries) by encouraging further knowledge and awareness of instructional methods, development, cultures, communities, etc. Early childhood has it's own pedagogy and mastering it is important. A good teacher needs to know the reasoning, history and research behind the practices. When challenging situations arise, I go to the research and know how to read and evaluate it.

I didn't know what I didn't know until I went to grad school. The learning built on what I knew as well as introduce me to new ideas through a variety of experiences; practicums, internships and "real life experiences" even though I had been teaching for 15 years. I know there are people who are naturally good with children but they need to add that to a strong educational background to make them the teacher every young child deserves.

I am sorry you felt insulted by my comment. This comment was just used as an example of mine to further my points in my post. I know that all MAs are not researched based and work in centers. I mentioned this in my post. I have worked with those with high school degrees to Masters Degrees and so on. Everyone can be a hard worker and dedicated to his or her craft.

Yes, you may know more about child development through extra schooling and that is great. The point of my post is to say that everyone should have a chance to work and receive compensation based on the quality of their work, not just their education. ​I do not have that option in my state. It is very degree-based and theTeachers Union has a stronghold on career growth.

I could work ten times harder than a co-worker with a Masters Degree and they will always receive more money for the same job. This is truly disheartening and I feel the pressure of "not being good enough" to teach within a school district due to economic reasons. At this time, I am unable to afford to further my education so that I can teach in a school district.

It is wonderful to hear that your state is so progressive in allowing those who have proved themselves in the classroom a fighting chance for equal pay and status. I hope one day my state will follow in Nevada's footsteps.

@JenniferHatcher wrote "whereas someone with a Masters may feel more entitled and slack off on their work just because of their degree."I take exception to the fact that you say that about those of us with an MA. We are the ones that truely understand a child's social, emotional, physical, and educational well-being in every aspect of an activity. It's insulting to hear that we don't know how to put theory into practice. Not all MAs are in reserched based positions. We scrub toilets and change diapers like everyone.That being said, I have worked with non degree and CDA partners who have had equal or more pay than me and they are the best at what they do.Nevada has a career ladder and NAEYC has programs in place to recognize teaching positions. We are moving forward in informing and educating legislators.early ed for pres​identbaby steps​

I understand that quality early childhood education is the key to a promising future and teacher salaries should be based on their educational background (degrees) to a certain degree.

I have worked with many people that have Associates, Bachelors, and Master degrees that are excellent at teaching, but others who lack the true passion and teaching ability and are not as deserving of a higher salary than those who may only have a High School Diploma or CDA. They tend to be more "book smart", but lack the true understanding of a child's social, emotional, physical, and educational well-being.

I myself learned later in life that I wanted to work with young children. I had gone to a trade school be be an esthetician (spa technician), but found while working in the industry that it was not the best fit for me. I was then offered a position as a Youth Services Assistant at a library. Here I performed storytimes, created programming, bibliographies, helped patrons find books and do research without an MLIS. This was when I found my passion for working with young children.

I went back to school and received a Certificate in Early Childhood Education and also received my CDA Credential. I began working in daycare and found that many of the teachers lacked a true love of the profession and many did not have any wanting to make ECE their career.They had degrees in other fields and just fell "into the profession".

It is so ridiculous to say a person who has a high school diploma is not as qualified as someone with a Masters Degree to work in a daycare center as a lead teacher. Many people have life experience that lends to the richness and culture of the learning environment. They have wonderful ideas and put their plans into action, whereas someone with a Masters may feel more entitled and slack off on their work just because of their degree. In this respect, I would pay the person with the high school diploma a similar wage due to their eagerness and intelligence working with children.

It is hard to make a blanked statement that life experience, hard work, and passion cannot lead to a quality teacher. Just ask some of the richest men and women in the world who formed businesses with only a high school diploma such as Bill Gates this. I'm sure he would say something quite similar. Book smarts do not equal putting teaching skills into use.

I myself would love to work in a school district, but unfortunately do not have the correct degree to do so at this time. Many people have acknowledged my teaching ability and say that I would make a great Kindergarten, 1st, or 2nd grade teacher due to my hard work and diligence.

I also create curriculum on TeacherspayTeachers.com for toddlers to second graders and have gotten many compliments on my work.

Thankfully, some school districts will allow me to work as a teacher's aide in these grades and that is an absolute joy. They understand that due to the economy and need to work that many people can not afford to go back to school for a higher education at this time.

I salute these school districts and hope one day that talent and innate ability in working with the children will lead to a change in our school systems around the country.

It is sad that the compensation for Early Childhood professionals is still so low. As a new teacher back in the early 90's with a combination of elementary course work as well as early childhood, I was able to begin with a salary commensurate with the other teachers in a public school setting. However, for some reason, there is a notion that anyone with any BS degree can teach in Early Childhood.

Still one of the biggest hurdles in Early Childhood is that trilemma of quality, compensation and affordability. Here in Kansas, some of us have been looking at what a livable wage should be. In Kansas for an individual (no children) it would be about $24,000 a year. Teachers at the entry level with their BS in public school settings make about $42,000 a year, with a masters about $49,000 and with a doctorate about #57,000. While even these salaries seem a bit low, our early childhood professionals with the same degree levels should be making at least these amounts. Given this information, our teachers with CDA credentials should be making about $29,000 a year and with a two year, AS degree about $35,000. To say the least, this is not happening.

One thing that needs to change is the notion that anyone with a HS diploma can take care of and educate young children. In the private sector, to try to maintain affordability, warm and breathing seems to pass for quality. Yes, a qualified babysitter can take care of one or two children for brief amounts of time, but parents don't realize what is happening in child care centers with unqualified persons. Classrooms can look more like a scene from The Lord of the Flies.

I think as preschools become attached to public schools, they will require a teacher with a Bachelor's degree and salaries will be commensurate. I just hope it will be early childhood qualified professionals at the Bachelor's level and not just anyone with any education degree.

Personally, I would like to see universal Head Start and Early Head Start for all children with qualified professionals in all classrooms. I do think there could be a sliding scale for tuition based on family salaries. That would create more equitable classrooms, too, when having children together from all cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Given that so many of our early childhood settings are in private for profit settings, I do think that licensure/certification should follow the teachers in early childhood just as they do for other educators rather than just or in addition to the settings. In our area, much is given to businesses and industry in the form of TIF (Tax Increment Financing). TIF causes border wars between Missouri and Kansas where businesses are constantly moving back and forth to gain tax advantages. Recently Sly James (the outgoing major of Kansas City) tried to pass a bill for Early Childhood Education with a regressive tax on constituents. Needless to say, it didn't pass. What I would rather see, rather than TIF, are districts being set up around businesses and even farming communities that take into account all the childcare centers in their areas. Businesses and communities would then be designated to make a certain amount of charitable contributions (tax free or tax deductible) to the centers in their areas; but only when the centers are hiring highly qualified Early Childhood educators. It should be at least CDA credentialing at the teacher aid/floater levels, AS/two year degree teachers at the lead teacher levels and bachelors and up at the coordinating teacher/director levels. These tax incentives should follow the amount of contributions made to Early Childhood Care and Education.

With hope for the future,

Diana

Diana Hurst

MA Curriculum & Instruction: K-12 w/emphasis in Early Childhood Education Professor, Early Childhood Education Johnson County Community College

12345 College Boulevard

Box 36 Overland Park, Kansas 66212

Office: CLB 434 913.469.8500 ext 3492

Everyone knows that the mind will not be kept from contemplating what it loves. -Mary Astell

The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto ("e-mail") is sent by the Johnson County Community College ("JCCC") and is intended to be confidential and for the use of only the individual or entity named above. The information may be protected by federal and state privacy and disclosures acts or other legal rules. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are notified that retention, dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please immediately notify JCCC by email reply and immediately and permanently delete this e-mail message and any attachments thereto. Thank you.

19. RE: Salary

As Vicki mentioned above, I think the problem is 'you don't know what you don't know.' I happen to have an M.Ed. in ECE, but as a director have had many excellent teachers with little to no formal education, but years of experience. They do what they do very well, but there is a lot I learned in achieving my Master's that they just don't know about. I am still firmly in the camp of requiring formal education. I think in broad terms that is the way we must go to professionalize ECE. For example, you can read all the law journals, articles, and books that you want, but no state is going to let you practice law. You have to have the law degree, period. What I would say is that we need to look to Power to the Profession for guidance. They have stated numerous times that they want to respect the 'existing profession' and that means finding those people a path to formal education. That means, looking at Federal funding to help pay for college degrees, or help you pay off college loan debt from earning those ECE degrees. That also means looking at alternative pathways, perhaps ways of incorporating earned professional development hours and turning them into college credits, or giving you credit based on a CDA towards a college degree, or simply making sure more night, weekend, and online classes are available so you can do it outside of the traditional workday when you maybe cannot afford to take time off, or simply cannot physically leave because you run a program out of your home and you are the sole caretaker. When we talk about earning the respect of our communities and the families within them, the business leaders, and our elected government officials, like it or not, what they respect is the hard work people put in to earn those degrees and then the hard work we put in to put that knowledge into practice.

Thank you Janelle for standing up for all the teachers without degrees who work just as hard as those with higher degrees. Everyday life experience can equal just as much as a degree. I myself continually read articles, watch webnairs, and expand my education through free resources that are presented by high-quality professors and professionals in the field on my own time.

I do have a college certificate and a CDA, I will always be considered less educated than those who have attended four year colleges and higher, but I will continue to educate myself through these resources and further my education this way.

I never meant to offend anyone, but I still maintain that a degree does not equal better or more worthy financially. It is offensive to those excellent ECE teachers who do not have higher degrees to imply that as well. I consider the PERSON and what I see them doing with the children to equal quality. The same can be said about teachers in K-12, or people in other jobs outside of education. If it becomes a requirement, fine, but I would be afraid that I would lose quality teachers who can't afford or are unable to go (back) to school for whatever reason.

I too was insulted by Jennifer's posts as well as Janelle Schmidt's. We know from brain research that preschool is a child's most important educational experience. That's why NAEYC is trying to professionalize the field (and increase salaries) by encouraging further knowledge and awareness of instructional methods, development, cultures, communities, etc. Early childhood has it's own pedagogy and mastering it is important. A good teacher needs to know the reasoning, history and research behind the practices. When challenging situations arise, I go to the research and know how to read and evaluate it.

I didn't know what I didn't know until I went to grad school. The learning built on what I knew as well as introduce me to new ideas through a variety of experiences; practicums, internships and "real life experiences" even though I had been teaching for 15 years. I know there are people who are naturally good with children but they need to add that to a strong educational background to make them the teacher every young child deserves.

I am sorry you felt insulted by my comment. This comment was just used as an example of mine to further my points in my post. I know that all MAs are not researched based and work in centers. I mentioned this in my post. I have worked with those with high school degrees to Masters Degrees and so on. Everyone can be a hard worker and dedicated to his or her craft.

Yes, you may know more about child development through extra schooling and that is great. The point of my post is to say that everyone should have a chance to work and receive compensation based on the quality of their work, not just their education. ​I do not have that option in my state. It is very degree-based and theTeachers Union has a stronghold on career growth.

I could work ten times harder than a co-worker with a Masters Degree and they will always receive more money for the same job. This is truly disheartening and I feel the pressure of "not being good enough" to teach within a school district due to economic reasons. At this time, I am unable to afford to further my education so that I can teach in a school district.

It is wonderful to hear that your state is so progressive in allowing those who have proved themselves in the classroom a fighting chance for equal pay and status. I hope one day my state will follow in Nevada's footsteps.

@JenniferHatcher wrote "whereas someone with a Masters may feel more entitled and slack off on their work just because of their degree."I take exception to the fact that you say that about those of us with an MA. We are the ones that truely understand a child's social, emotional, physical, and educational well-being in every aspect of an activity. It's insulting to hear that we don't know how to put theory into practice. Not all MAs are in reserched based positions. We scrub toilets and change diapers like everyone.That being said, I have worked with non degree and CDA partners who have had equal or more pay than me and they are the best at what they do.Nevada has a career ladder and NAEYC has programs in place to recognize teaching positions. We are moving forward in informing and educating legislators.early ed for pres​identbaby steps​

I understand that quality early childhood education is the key to a promising future and teacher salaries should be based on their educational background (degrees) to a certain degree.

I have worked with many people that have Associates, Bachelors, and Master degrees that are excellent at teaching, but others who lack the true passion and teaching ability and are not as deserving of a higher salary than those who may only have a High School Diploma or CDA. They tend to be more "book smart", but lack the true understanding of a child's social, emotional, physical, and educational well-being.

I myself learned later in life that I wanted to work with young children. I had gone to a trade school be be an esthetician (spa technician), but found while working in the industry that it was not the best fit for me. I was then offered a position as a Youth Services Assistant at a library. Here I performed storytimes, created programming, bibliographies, helped patrons find books and do research without an MLIS. This was when I found my passion for working with young children.

I went back to school and received a Certificate in Early Childhood Education and also received my CDA Credential. I began working in daycare and found that many of the teachers lacked a true love of the profession and many did not have any wanting to make ECE their career.They had degrees in other fields and just fell "into the profession".

It is so ridiculous to say a person who has a high school diploma is not as qualified as someone with a Masters Degree to work in a daycare center as a lead teacher. Many people have life experience that lends to the richness and culture of the learning environment. They have wonderful ideas and put their plans into action, whereas someone with a Masters may feel more entitled and slack off on their work just because of their degree. In this respect, I would pay the person with the high school diploma a similar wage due to their eagerness and intelligence working with children.

It is hard to make a blanked statement that life experience, hard work, and passion cannot lead to a quality teacher. Just ask some of the richest men and women in the world who formed businesses with only a high school diploma such as Bill Gates this. I'm sure he would say something quite similar. Book smarts do not equal putting teaching skills into use.

I myself would love to work in a school district, but unfortunately do not have the correct degree to do so at this time. Many people have acknowledged my teaching ability and say that I would make a great Kindergarten, 1st, or 2nd grade teacher due to my hard work and diligence.

I also create curriculum on TeacherspayTeachers.com for toddlers to second graders and have gotten many compliments on my work.

Thankfully, some school districts will allow me to work as a teacher's aide in these grades and that is an absolute joy. They understand that due to the economy and need to work that many people can not afford to go back to school for a higher education at this time.

I salute these school districts and hope one day that talent and innate ability in working with the children will lead to a change in our school systems around the country.

It is sad that the compensation for Early Childhood professionals is still so low. As a new teacher back in the early 90's with a combination of elementary course work as well as early childhood, I was able to begin with a salary commensurate with the other teachers in a public school setting. However, for some reason, there is a notion that anyone with any BS degree can teach in Early Childhood.

Still one of the biggest hurdles in Early Childhood is that trilemma of quality, compensation and affordability. Here in Kansas, some of us have been looking at what a livable wage should be. In Kansas for an individual (no children) it would be about $24,000 a year. Teachers at the entry level with their BS in public school settings make about $42,000 a year, with a masters about $49,000 and with a doctorate about #57,000. While even these salaries seem a bit low, our early childhood professionals with the same degree levels should be making at least these amounts. Given this information, our teachers with CDA credentials should be making about $29,000 a year and with a two year, AS degree about $35,000. To say the least, this is not happening.

One thing that needs to change is the notion that anyone with a HS diploma can take care of and educate young children. In the private sector, to try to maintain affordability, warm and breathing seems to pass for quality. Yes, a qualified babysitter can take care of one or two children for brief amounts of time, but parents don't realize what is happening in child care centers with unqualified persons. Classrooms can look more like a scene from The Lord of the Flies.

I think as preschools become attached to public schools, they will require a teacher with a Bachelor's degree and salaries will be commensurate. I just hope it will be early childhood qualified professionals at the Bachelor's level and not just anyone with any education degree.

Personally, I would like to see universal Head Start and Early Head Start for all children with qualified professionals in all classrooms. I do think there could be a sliding scale for tuition based on family salaries. That would create more equitable classrooms, too, when having children together from all cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Given that so many of our early childhood settings are in private for profit settings, I do think that licensure/certification should follow the teachers in early childhood just as they do for other educators rather than just or in addition to the settings. In our area, much is given to businesses and industry in the form of TIF (Tax Increment Financing). TIF causes border wars between Missouri and Kansas where businesses are constantly moving back and forth to gain tax advantages. Recently Sly James (the outgoing major of Kansas City) tried to pass a bill for Early Childhood Education with a regressive tax on constituents. Needless to say, it didn't pass. What I would rather see, rather than TIF, are districts being set up around businesses and even farming communities that take into account all the childcare centers in their areas. Businesses and communities would then be designated to make a certain amount of charitable contributions (tax free or tax deductible) to the centers in their areas; but only when the centers are hiring highly qualified Early Childhood educators. It should be at least CDA credentialing at the teacher aid/floater levels, AS/two year degree teachers at the lead teacher levels and bachelors and up at the coordinating teacher/director levels. These tax incentives should follow the amount of contributions made to Early Childhood Care and Education.

With hope for the future,

Diana

Diana Hurst

MA Curriculum & Instruction: K-12 w/emphasis in Early Childhood Education Professor, Early Childhood Education Johnson County Community College

12345 College Boulevard

Box 36 Overland Park, Kansas 66212

Office: CLB 434 913.469.8500 ext 3492

Everyone knows that the mind will not be kept from contemplating what it loves. -Mary Astell

The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto ("e-mail") is sent by the Johnson County Community College ("JCCC") and is intended to be confidential and for the use of only the individual or entity named above. The information may be protected by federal and state privacy and disclosures acts or other legal rules. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are notified that retention, dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please immediately notify JCCC by email reply and immediately and permanently delete this e-mail message and any attachments thereto. Thank you.

20. RE: Salary

"You don't know what you don't know" -- this is important, but only when you recognize that people are different. Some people DO know what they don't know, as a general outlook on life. These are the people who have actively sought out authentic knowledge for the joy of Learning. Don't we see this in some children too? Some kids realize where their knowledge on a subject ends, and they are hungry to learn, research, explore.

Some other people have a different outlook towards knowledge. They want a degree in order to increase their salary. They study to pass the class, not to satisfy a hunger to know. And that's totally normal too.

It's just important that we be honest about how various people approach their education. Because I've know brilliant teachers with just an Associate's degree, and I've know teachers and director's who have a Master's but don't seem to apply any of it in their work.

I'd always choose to work with someone "green" and eager to learn, rather than someone who just put in what's required to get a Master's or PEL for the higher pay.

As Vicki mentioned above, I think the problem is 'you don't know what you don't know.' I happen to have an M.Ed. in ECE, but as a director have had many excellent teachers with little to no formal education, but years of experience. They do what they do very well, but there is a lot I learned in achieving my Master's that they just don't know about. I am still firmly in the camp of requiring formal education. I think in broad terms that is the way we must go to professionalize ECE. For example, you can read all the law journals, articles, and books that you want, but no state is going to let you practice law. You have to have the law degree, period. What I would say is that we need to look to Power to the Profession for guidance. They have stated numerous times that they want to respect the 'existing profession' and that means finding those people a path to formal education. That means, looking at Federal funding to help pay for college degrees, or help you pay off college loan debt from earning those ECE degrees. That also means looking at alternative pathways, perhaps ways of incorporating earned professional development hours and turning them into college credits, or giving you credit based on a CDA towards a college degree, or simply making sure more night, weekend, and online classes are available so you can do it outside of the traditional workday when you maybe cannot afford to take time off, or simply cannot physically leave because you run a program out of your home and you are the sole caretaker. When we talk about earning the respect of our communities and the families within them, the business leaders, and our elected government officials, like it or not, what they respect is the hard work people put in to earn those degrees and then the hard work we put in to put that knowledge into practice.

Thank you Janelle for standing up for all the teachers without degrees who work just as hard as those with higher degrees. Everyday life experience can equal just as much as a degree. I myself continually read articles, watch webnairs, and expand my education through free resources that are presented by high-quality professors and professionals in the field on my own time.

I do have a college certificate and a CDA, I will always be considered less educated than those who have attended four year colleges and higher, but I will continue to educate myself through these resources and further my education this way.

I never meant to offend anyone, but I still maintain that a degree does not equal better or more worthy financially. It is offensive to those excellent ECE teachers who do not have higher degrees to imply that as well. I consider the PERSON and what I see them doing with the children to equal quality. The same can be said about teachers in K-12, or people in other jobs outside of education. If it becomes a requirement, fine, but I would be afraid that I would lose quality teachers who can't afford or are unable to go (back) to school for whatever reason.

I too was insulted by Jennifer's posts as well as Janelle Schmidt's. We know from brain research that preschool is a child's most important educational experience. That's why NAEYC is trying to professionalize the field (and increase salaries) by encouraging further knowledge and awareness of instructional methods, development, cultures, communities, etc. Early childhood has it's own pedagogy and mastering it is important. A good teacher needs to know the reasoning, history and research behind the practices. When challenging situations arise, I go to the research and know how to read and evaluate it.

I didn't know what I didn't know until I went to grad school. The learning built on what I knew as well as introduce me to new ideas through a variety of experiences; practicums, internships and "real life experiences" even though I had been teaching for 15 years. I know there are people who are naturally good with children but they need to add that to a strong educational background to make them the teacher every young child deserves.

I am sorry you felt insulted by my comment. This comment was just used as an example of mine to further my points in my post. I know that all MAs are not researched based and work in centers. I mentioned this in my post. I have worked with those with high school degrees to Masters Degrees and so on. Everyone can be a hard worker and dedicated to his or her craft.

Yes, you may know more about child development through extra schooling and that is great. The point of my post is to say that everyone should have a chance to work and receive compensation based on the quality of their work, not just their education. ​I do not have that option in my state. It is very degree-based and theTeachers Union has a stronghold on career growth.

I could work ten times harder than a co-worker with a Masters Degree and they will always receive more money for the same job. This is truly disheartening and I feel the pressure of "not being good enough" to teach within a school district due to economic reasons. At this time, I am unable to afford to further my education so that I can teach in a school district.

It is wonderful to hear that your state is so progressive in allowing those who have proved themselves in the classroom a fighting chance for equal pay and status. I hope one day my state will follow in Nevada's footsteps.

@JenniferHatcher wrote "whereas someone with a Masters may feel more entitled and slack off on their work just because of their degree."I take exception to the fact that you say that about those of us with an MA. We are the ones that truely understand a child's social, emotional, physical, and educational well-being in every aspect of an activity. It's insulting to hear that we don't know how to put theory into practice. Not all MAs are in reserched based positions. We scrub toilets and change diapers like everyone.That being said, I have worked with non degree and CDA partners who have had equal or more pay than me and they are the best at what they do.Nevada has a career ladder and NAEYC has programs in place to recognize teaching positions. We are moving forward in informing and educating legislators.early ed for pres​identbaby steps​

I understand that quality early childhood education is the key to a promising future and teacher salaries should be based on their educational background (degrees) to a certain degree.

I have worked with many people that have Associates, Bachelors, and Master degrees that are excellent at teaching, but others who lack the true passion and teaching ability and are not as deserving of a higher salary than those who may only have a High School Diploma or CDA. They tend to be more "book smart", but lack the true understanding of a child's social, emotional, physical, and educational well-being.

I myself learned later in life that I wanted to work with young children. I had gone to a trade school be be an esthetician (spa technician), but found while working in the industry that it was not the best fit for me. I was then offered a position as a Youth Services Assistant at a library. Here I performed storytimes, created programming, bibliographies, helped patrons find books and do research without an MLIS. This was when I found my passion for working with young children.

I went back to school and received a Certificate in Early Childhood Education and also received my CDA Credential. I began working in daycare and found that many of the teachers lacked a true love of the profession and many did not have any wanting to make ECE their career.They had degrees in other fields and just fell "into the profession".

It is so ridiculous to say a person who has a high school diploma is not as qualified as someone with a Masters Degree to work in a daycare center as a lead teacher. Many people have life experience that lends to the richness and culture of the learning environment. They have wonderful ideas and put their plans into action, whereas someone with a Masters may feel more entitled and slack off on their work just because of their degree. In this respect, I would pay the person with the high school diploma a similar wage due to their eagerness and intelligence working with children.

It is hard to make a blanked statement that life experience, hard work, and passion cannot lead to a quality teacher. Just ask some of the richest men and women in the world who formed businesses with only a high school diploma such as Bill Gates this. I'm sure he would say something quite similar. Book smarts do not equal putting teaching skills into use.

I myself would love to work in a school district, but unfortunately do not have the correct degree to do so at this time. Many people have acknowledged my teaching ability and say that I would make a great Kindergarten, 1st, or 2nd grade teacher due to my hard work and diligence.

I also create curriculum on TeacherspayTeachers.com for toddlers to second graders and have gotten many compliments on my work.

Thankfully, some school districts will allow me to work as a teacher's aide in these grades and that is an absolute joy. They understand that due to the economy and need to work that many people can not afford to go back to school for a higher education at this time.

I salute these school districts and hope one day that talent and innate ability in working with the children will lead to a change in our school systems around the country.

It is sad that the compensation for Early Childhood professionals is still so low. As a new teacher back in the early 90's with a combination of elementary course work as well as early childhood, I was able to begin with a salary commensurate with the other teachers in a public school setting. However, for some reason, there is a notion that anyone with any BS degree can teach in Early Childhood.

Still one of the biggest hurdles in Early Childhood is that trilemma of quality, compensation and affordability. Here in Kansas, some of us have been looking at what a livable wage should be. In Kansas for an individual (no children) it would be about $24,000 a year. Teachers at the entry level with their BS in public school settings make about $42,000 a year, with a masters about $49,000 and with a doctorate about #57,000. While even these salaries seem a bit low, our early childhood professionals with the same degree levels should be making at least these amounts. Given this information, our teachers with CDA credentials should be making about $29,000 a year and with a two year, AS degree about $35,000. To say the least, this is not happening.

One thing that needs to change is the notion that anyone with a HS diploma can take care of and educate young children. In the private sector, to try to maintain affordability, warm and breathing seems to pass for quality. Yes, a qualified babysitter can take care of one or two children for brief amounts of time, but parents don't realize what is happening in child care centers with unqualified persons. Classrooms can look more like a scene from The Lord of the Flies.

I think as preschools become attached to public schools, they will require a teacher with a Bachelor's degree and salaries will be commensurate. I just hope it will be early childhood qualified professionals at the Bachelor's level and not just anyone with any education degree.

Personally, I would like to see universal Head Start and Early Head Start for all children with qualified professionals in all classrooms. I do think there could be a sliding scale for tuition based on family salaries. That would create more equitable classrooms, too, when having children together from all cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Given that so many of our early childhood settings are in private for profit settings, I do think that licensure/certification should follow the teachers in early childhood just as they do for other educators rather than just or in addition to the settings. In our area, much is given to businesses and industry in the form of TIF (Tax Increment Financing). TIF causes border wars between Missouri and Kansas where businesses are constantly moving back and forth to gain tax advantages. Recently Sly James (the outgoing major of Kansas City) tried to pass a bill for Early Childhood Education with a regressive tax on constituents. Needless to say, it didn't pass. What I would rather see, rather than TIF, are districts being set up around businesses and even farming communities that take into account all the childcare centers in their areas. Businesses and communities would then be designated to make a certain amount of charitable contributions (tax free or tax deductible) to the centers in their areas; but only when the centers are hiring highly qualified Early Childhood educators. It should be at least CDA credentialing at the teacher aid/floater levels, AS/two year degree teachers at the lead teacher levels and bachelors and up at the coordinating teacher/director levels. These tax incentives should follow the amount of contributions made to Early Childhood Care and Education.

With hope for the future,

Diana

Diana Hurst

MA Curriculum & Instruction: K-12 w/emphasis in Early Childhood Education Professor, Early Childhood Education Johnson County Community College

12345 College Boulevard

Box 36 Overland Park, Kansas 66212

Office: CLB 434 913.469.8500 ext 3492

Everyone knows that the mind will not be kept from contemplating what it loves. -Mary Astell

The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto ("e-mail") is sent by the Johnson County Community College ("JCCC") and is intended to be confidential and for the use of only the individual or entity named above. The information may be protected by federal and state privacy and disclosures acts or other legal rules. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are notified that retention, dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please immediately notify JCCC by email reply and immediately and permanently delete this e-mail message and any attachments thereto. Thank you.

21. RE: Salary

When you evaluate an employee, you look at qualifications and daily practice. It is such a sad burden of our work in early childhood education that we pick each other apart rather than stand together. Let's say you are looking to hire a lawyer- hopefully, you look for one who has the right education & credentials. Now there may be an excellent paralegal in the law office, one who is spot on, detail oriented and goes the extra mile, but you don't hire them to the work you need a lawyer to complete. There also might be a lazy lawyer working in the office- okay, you don't hire that lawyer either. You go to a dentist to get your teeth cleaned, the dental hygienist often does this work, but please don't do to a dental office that has no dentists! Most of the time you only need a cleaning, but we accept the need for the d noisy, with a specific degree earned through a regulated system of education.I'm tired of hearing "there are no experts"! That's ridiculous. Perhaps most of the time, and for most of the children, good enough will do, and great love will make preschool and development soar! But their are children with developmental issues, traumatic experiences, special needs, that make having a deep understanding of of development necessary. Our profession is riddled with misconceptions that seem perfectly plausible, but actually hinder a child's ability to learn! Unconscious biases that increase the educational gaps between different groups, developmental disorders that go unseen, and become greater hurdles to successful learning later in childhood, I can go on and on. Just look at the plight of dual language learners when placed with teachers who lack a background and experience in language development!Background AND experience- it is a sad state of affairs that some one could graduate from an amazing program in child development with the highest marks, but not have been required to hold and infant, let alone manage a class of toddlers!one last thing: I have often heard the complaint that expert teachers with degrees are lazy, or lack common sense. In reality, one of the most common mistakes being made in preschool classes is not allowing children time to work through problems on their own (safety first of course!). To sit back and watch before jumping in is the often a more educated and appropriate response than over-managing. Too many "projects," too much time spent sitting and listening, too many "process oriented projects that need one to one adult child oversight in order to achieve the Pinterest look, too much class and home time spent cutting and gluing and all the rest, when some of the best we have to offer our preschoolers is to listen to them, let them ask and answer the questions, give them the supplies thank time for their favorite games, from super heroes to worms, instead of saddling them with our "important learning agendas..."so yes, you can't necessarily teach some one how to listen to a child with love and respect, but you can and should teach teachers when finger paint is more developmentally appropriate than crayons...

I never meant to offend anyone, but I still maintain that a degree does not equal better or more worthy financially. It is offensive to those excellent ECE teachers who do not have higher degrees to imply that as well. I consider the PERSON and what I see them doing with the children to equal quality. The same can be said about teachers in K-12, or people in other jobs outside of education. If it becomes a requirement, fine, but I would be afraid that I would lose quality teachers who can't afford or are unable to go (back) to school for whatever reason.

I too was insulted by Jennifer's posts as well as Janelle Schmidt's. We know from brain research that preschool is a child's most important educational experience. That's why NAEYC is trying to professionalize the field (and increase salaries) by encouraging further knowledge and awareness of instructional methods, development, cultures, communities, etc. Early childhood has it's own pedagogy and mastering it is important. A good teacher needs to know the reasoning, history and research behind the practices. When challenging situations arise, I go to the research and know how to read and evaluate it.

I didn't know what I didn't know until I went to grad school. The learning built on what I knew as well as introduce me to new ideas through a variety of experiences; practicums, internships and "real life experiences" even though I had been teaching for 15 years. I know there are people who are naturally good with children but they need to add that to a strong educational background to make them the teacher every young child deserves.

I am sorry you felt insulted by my comment. This comment was just used as an example of mine to further my points in my post. I know that all MAs are not researched based and work in centers. I mentioned this in my post. I have worked with those with high school degrees to Masters Degrees and so on. Everyone can be a hard worker and dedicated to his or her craft.

Yes, you may know more about child development through extra schooling and that is great. The point of my post is to say that everyone should have a chance to work and receive compensation based on the quality of their work, not just their education. ​I do not have that option in my state. It is very degree-based and theTeachers Union has a stronghold on career growth.

I could work ten times harder than a co-worker with a Masters Degree and they will always receive more money for the same job. This is truly disheartening and I feel the pressure of "not being good enough" to teach within a school district due to economic reasons. At this time, I am unable to afford to further my education so that I can teach in a school district.

It is wonderful to hear that your state is so progressive in allowing those who have proved themselves in the classroom a fighting chance for equal pay and status. I hope one day my state will follow in Nevada's footsteps.

@JenniferHatcher wrote "whereas someone with a Masters may feel more entitled and slack off on their work just because of their degree."I take exception to the fact that you say that about those of us with an MA. We are the ones that truely understand a child's social, emotional, physical, and educational well-being in every aspect of an activity. It's insulting to hear that we don't know how to put theory into practice. Not all MAs are in reserched based positions. We scrub toilets and change diapers like everyone.That being said, I have worked with non degree and CDA partners who have had equal or more pay than me and they are the best at what they do.Nevada has a career ladder and NAEYC has programs in place to recognize teaching positions. We are moving forward in informing and educating legislators.early ed for pres​identbaby steps​

I understand that quality early childhood education is the key to a promising future and teacher salaries should be based on their educational background (degrees) to a certain degree.

I have worked with many people that have Associates, Bachelors, and Master degrees that are excellent at teaching, but others who lack the true passion and teaching ability and are not as deserving of a higher salary than those who may only have a High School Diploma or CDA. They tend to be more "book smart", but lack the true understanding of a child's social, emotional, physical, and educational well-being.

I myself learned later in life that I wanted to work with young children. I had gone to a trade school be be an esthetician (spa technician), but found while working in the industry that it was not the best fit for me. I was then offered a position as a Youth Services Assistant at a library. Here I performed storytimes, created programming, bibliographies, helped patrons find books and do research without an MLIS. This was when I found my passion for working with young children.

I went back to school and received a Certificate in Early Childhood Education and also received my CDA Credential. I began working in daycare and found that many of the teachers lacked a true love of the profession and many did not have any wanting to make ECE their career.They had degrees in other fields and just fell "into the profession".

It is so ridiculous to say a person who has a high school diploma is not as qualified as someone with a Masters Degree to work in a daycare center as a lead teacher. Many people have life experience that lends to the richness and culture of the learning environment. They have wonderful ideas and put their plans into action, whereas someone with a Masters may feel more entitled and slack off on their work just because of their degree. In this respect, I would pay the person with the high school diploma a similar wage due to their eagerness and intelligence working with children.

It is hard to make a blanked statement that life experience, hard work, and passion cannot lead to a quality teacher. Just ask some of the richest men and women in the world who formed businesses with only a high school diploma such as Bill Gates this. I'm sure he would say something quite similar. Book smarts do not equal putting teaching skills into use.

I myself would love to work in a school district, but unfortunately do not have the correct degree to do so at this time. Many people have acknowledged my teaching ability and say that I would make a great Kindergarten, 1st, or 2nd grade teacher due to my hard work and diligence.

I also create curriculum on TeacherspayTeachers.com for toddlers to second graders and have gotten many compliments on my work.

Thankfully, some school districts will allow me to work as a teacher's aide in these grades and that is an absolute joy. They understand that due to the economy and need to work that many people can not afford to go back to school for a higher education at this time.

I salute these school districts and hope one day that talent and innate ability in working with the children will lead to a change in our school systems around the country.

It is sad that the compensation for Early Childhood professionals is still so low. As a new teacher back in the early 90's with a combination of elementary course work as well as early childhood, I was able to begin with a salary commensurate with the other teachers in a public school setting. However, for some reason, there is a notion that anyone with any BS degree can teach in Early Childhood.

Still one of the biggest hurdles in Early Childhood is that trilemma of quality, compensation and affordability. Here in Kansas, some of us have been looking at what a livable wage should be. In Kansas for an individual (no children) it would be about $24,000 a year. Teachers at the entry level with their BS in public school settings make about $42,000 a year, with a masters about $49,000 and with a doctorate about #57,000. While even these salaries seem a bit low, our early childhood professionals with the same degree levels should be making at least these amounts. Given this information, our teachers with CDA credentials should be making about $29,000 a year and with a two year, AS degree about $35,000. To say the least, this is not happening.

One thing that needs to change is the notion that anyone with a HS diploma can take care of and educate young children. In the private sector, to try to maintain affordability, warm and breathing seems to pass for quality. Yes, a qualified babysitter can take care of one or two children for brief amounts of time, but parents don't realize what is happening in child care centers with unqualified persons. Classrooms can look more like a scene from The Lord of the Flies.

I think as preschools become attached to public schools, they will require a teacher with a Bachelor's degree and salaries will be commensurate. I just hope it will be early childhood qualified professionals at the Bachelor's level and not just anyone with any education degree.

Personally, I would like to see universal Head Start and Early Head Start for all children with qualified professionals in all classrooms. I do think there could be a sliding scale for tuition based on family salaries. That would create more equitable classrooms, too, when having children together from all cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Given that so many of our early childhood settings are in private for profit settings, I do think that licensure/certification should follow the teachers in early childhood just as they do for other educators rather than just or in addition to the settings. In our area, much is given to businesses and industry in the form of TIF (Tax Increment Financing). TIF causes border wars between Missouri and Kansas where businesses are constantly moving back and forth to gain tax advantages. Recently Sly James (the outgoing major of Kansas City) tried to pass a bill for Early Childhood Education with a regressive tax on constituents. Needless to say, it didn't pass. What I would rather see, rather than TIF, are districts being set up around businesses and even farming communities that take into account all the childcare centers in their areas. Businesses and communities would then be designated to make a certain amount of charitable contributions (tax free or tax deductible) to the centers in their areas; but only when the centers are hiring highly qualified Early Childhood educators. It should be at least CDA credentialing at the teacher aid/floater levels, AS/two year degree teachers at the lead teacher levels and bachelors and up at the coordinating teacher/director levels. These tax incentives should follow the amount of contributions made to Early Childhood Care and Education.

With hope for the future,

Diana

Diana Hurst

MA Curriculum & Instruction: K-12 w/emphasis in Early Childhood Education Professor, Early Childhood Education Johnson County Community College

12345 College Boulevard

Box 36 Overland Park, Kansas 66212

Office: CLB 434 913.469.8500 ext 3492

Everyone knows that the mind will not be kept from contemplating what it loves. -Mary Astell

The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto ("e-mail") is sent by the Johnson County Community College ("JCCC") and is intended to be confidential and for the use of only the individual or entity named above. The information may be protected by federal and state privacy and disclosures acts or other legal rules. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are notified that retention, dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please immediately notify JCCC by email reply and immediately and permanently delete this e-mail message and any attachments thereto. Thank you.

22. RE: Salary

Education and experience are important. I would also say that we need to advocate for a stand-alone ECE degree that is based on a program that targets providing education and experience connected to NAEYC's designated span for early childhood. Too many teacher preparation programs do not provide preparation that provides deep understanding and skill needed to teach children birth through age 8. Most programs and state regulations only recognize the need for certification in early childhood education for teaching prek in public schools. The preparation is diluted by including the most emphasis on middle grades. I have always felt that to teach children of early childhood ages, certification in early childhood should be required, not an elementary certification, which in my State covers kindergarten through grade 6. A good overlap grade for both certifications would be grade 3.

In all fields, there are folks who have graduated with grades that allow them to acquire the stamp of approval by the State to work in a variety of fields. Does this mean they are great lawyers, doctors, teachers? Not necessarily! At the university level, can we provide experiences that help teachers of younger children use their knowledge from course work to understand the children with whom they work in a way that promotes their optimal development and recognize when special accommodations are needed to help specific children better thrive as well as include families in this growth process? I think we can provide teachers with observational skills, analytic skills, and interaction skills that will lead to really good classroom experiences for children. On the other hand, when teachers are viewed as technicians who only have to implement a packaged curriculum that was written far away by someone else who does not know your group of children, critical thinking and the knowledge needed to think critically begin to shut down. Eventually, teachers are just following someone else's ideas that may or may not be good for their particular children.

In addition, as part of preparing teachers, we work to help future teachers explore their beliefs about children and learning. We hope that they will become aware of their implicit biases in order to check them when they see them expressed in their behavior.

It is not enough to love children, although that is extremely important. Coming into the early childhood setting without the requisite "schooling" and beginning the journey with a CDA is a start but people choose whether they want to go further to develop a deeper understanding of children's development and how they learn.

Salaries are very low in our field for a variety of reasons. Teaching in an early childhood classroom, especially with the youngest children is very "labor intensive". One reason for the low salary in our field is connected to a widely held belief that you do not need any knowledge to care for and educate young children. Another is the lack of financial support for parents to pay for the high cost of educating young children in quality environments. Quality costs money! There are other reasons as well, too many to list.

There is a danger for which NAEYC has to watch out that in raising the bar for teachers of young children they will set up an inflexible system that does not permit evaluating individuals' backgrounds, knowledge, and experience, only looking at the formal credentials. Even medical school utilizes some flexibility for admission to programs. To go to medical school, there are many who approach it through an alternate route after college, taking courses and exams to "ready" themselves for medical school. In addition, there are others who come to medicine from a related field who already have a deep knowledge of some of the knowledge that medical school provides. Again, through testing, students who have mastered some of the knowledge they need are excused from taking courses they have already mastered.

When you evaluate an employee, you look at qualifications and daily practice. It is such a sad burden of our work in early childhood education that we pick each other apart rather than stand together. Let's say you are looking to hire a lawyer- hopefully, you look for one who has the right education & credentials. Now there may be an excellent paralegal in the law office, one who is spot on, detail oriented and goes the extra mile, but you don't hire them to the work you need a lawyer to complete. There also might be a lazy lawyer working in the office- okay, you don't hire that lawyer either. You go to a dentist to get your teeth cleaned, the dental hygienist often does this work, but please don't do to a dental office that has no dentists! Most of the time you only need a cleaning, but we accept the need for the d noisy, with a specific degree earned through a regulated system of education.I'm tired of hearing "there are no experts"! That's ridiculous. Perhaps most of the time, and for most of the children, good enough will do, and great love will make preschool and development soar! But their are children with developmental issues, traumatic experiences, special needs, that make having a deep understanding of of development necessary. Our profession is riddled with misconceptions that seem perfectly plausible, but actually hinder a child's ability to learn! Unconscious biases that increase the educational gaps between different groups, developmental disorders that go unseen, and become greater hurdles to successful learning later in childhood, I can go on and on. Just look at the plight of dual language learners when placed with teachers who lack a background and experience in language development!Background AND experience- it is a sad state of affairs that some one could graduate from an amazing program in child development with the highest marks, but not have been required to hold and infant, let alone manage a class of toddlers!one last thing: I have often heard the complaint that expert teachers with degrees are lazy, or lack common sense. In reality, one of the most common mistakes being made in preschool classes is not allowing children time to work through problems on their own (safety first of course!). To sit back and watch before jumping in is the often a more educated and appropriate response than over-managing. Too many "projects," too much time spent sitting and listening, too many "process oriented projects that need one to one adult child oversight in order to achieve the Pinterest look, too much class and home time spent cutting and gluing and all the rest, when some of the best we have to offer our preschoolers is to listen to them, let them ask and answer the questions, give them the supplies thank time for their favorite games, from super heroes to worms, instead of saddling them with our "important learning agendas..."so yes, you can't necessarily teach some one how to listen to a child with love and respect, but you can and should teach teachers when finger paint is more developmentally appropriate than crayons...

I never meant to offend anyone, but I still maintain that a degree does not equal better or more worthy financially. It is offensive to those excellent ECE teachers who do not have higher degrees to imply that as well. I consider the PERSON and what I see them doing with the children to equal quality. The same can be said about teachers in K-12, or people in other jobs outside of education. If it becomes a requirement, fine, but I would be afraid that I would lose quality teachers who can't afford or are unable to go (back) to school for whatever reason.

I too was insulted by Jennifer's posts as well as Janelle Schmidt's. We know from brain research that preschool is a child's most important educational experience. That's why NAEYC is trying to professionalize the field (and increase salaries) by encouraging further knowledge and awareness of instructional methods, development, cultures, communities, etc. Early childhood has it's own pedagogy and mastering it is important. A good teacher needs to know the reasoning, history and research behind the practices. When challenging situations arise, I go to the research and know how to read and evaluate it.

I didn't know what I didn't know until I went to grad school. The learning built on what I knew as well as introduce me to new ideas through a variety of experiences; practicums, internships and "real life experiences" even though I had been teaching for 15 years. I know there are people who are naturally good with children but they need to add that to a strong educational background to make them the teacher every young child deserves.

I am sorry you felt insulted by my comment. This comment was just used as an example of mine to further my points in my post. I know that all MAs are not researched based and work in centers. I mentioned this in my post. I have worked with those with high school degrees to Masters Degrees and so on. Everyone can be a hard worker and dedicated to his or her craft.

Yes, you may know more about child development through extra schooling and that is great. The point of my post is to say that everyone should have a chance to work and receive compensation based on the quality of their work, not just their education. ​I do not have that option in my state. It is very degree-based and theTeachers Union has a stronghold on career growth.

I could work ten times harder than a co-worker with a Masters Degree and they will always receive more money for the same job. This is truly disheartening and I feel the pressure of "not being good enough" to teach within a school district due to economic reasons. At this time, I am unable to afford to further my education so that I can teach in a school district.

It is wonderful to hear that your state is so progressive in allowing those who have proved themselves in the classroom a fighting chance for equal pay and status. I hope one day my state will follow in Nevada's footsteps.

@JenniferHatcher wrote "whereas someone with a Masters may feel more entitled and slack off on their work just because of their degree."I take exception to the fact that you say that about those of us with an MA. We are the ones that truely understand a child's social, emotional, physical, and educational well-being in every aspect of an activity. It's insulting to hear that we don't know how to put theory into practice. Not all MAs are in reserched based positions. We scrub toilets and change diapers like everyone.That being said, I have worked with non degree and CDA partners who have had equal or more pay than me and they are the best at what they do.Nevada has a career ladder and NAEYC has programs in place to recognize teaching positions. We are moving forward in informing and educating legislators.early ed for pres​identbaby steps​

I understand that quality early childhood education is the key to a promising future and teacher salaries should be based on their educational background (degrees) to a certain degree.

I have worked with many people that have Associates, Bachelors, and Master degrees that are excellent at teaching, but others who lack the true passion and teaching ability and are not as deserving of a higher salary than those who may only have a High School Diploma or CDA. They tend to be more "book smart", but lack the true understanding of a child's social, emotional, physical, and educational well-being.

I myself learned later in life that I wanted to work with young children. I had gone to a trade school be be an esthetician (spa technician), but found while working in the industry that it was not the best fit for me. I was then offered a position as a Youth Services Assistant at a library. Here I performed storytimes, created programming, bibliographies, helped patrons find books and do research without an MLIS. This was when I found my passion for working with young children.

I went back to school and received a Certificate in Early Childhood Education and also received my CDA Credential. I began working in daycare and found that many of the teachers lacked a true love of the profession and many did not have any wanting to make ECE their career.They had degrees in other fields and just fell "into the profession".

It is so ridiculous to say a person who has a high school diploma is not as qualified as someone with a Masters Degree to work in a daycare center as a lead teacher. Many people have life experience that lends to the richness and culture of the learning environment. They have wonderful ideas and put their plans into action, whereas someone with a Masters may feel more entitled and slack off on their work just because of their degree. In this respect, I would pay the person with the high school diploma a similar wage due to their eagerness and intelligence working with children.

It is hard to make a blanked statement that life experience, hard work, and passion cannot lead to a quality teacher. Just ask some of the richest men and women in the world who formed businesses with only a high school diploma such as Bill Gates this. I'm sure he would say something quite similar. Book smarts do not equal putting teaching skills into use.

I myself would love to work in a school district, but unfortunately do not have the correct degree to do so at this time. Many people have acknowledged my teaching ability and say that I would make a great Kindergarten, 1st, or 2nd grade teacher due to my hard work and diligence.

I also create curriculum on TeacherspayTeachers.com for toddlers to second graders and have gotten many compliments on my work.

Thankfully, some school districts will allow me to work as a teacher's aide in these grades and that is an absolute joy. They understand that due to the economy and need to work that many people can not afford to go back to school for a higher education at this time.

I salute these school districts and hope one day that talent and innate ability in working with the children will lead to a change in our school systems around the country.

It is sad that the compensation for Early Childhood professionals is still so low. As a new teacher back in the early 90's with a combination of elementary course work as well as early childhood, I was able to begin with a salary commensurate with the other teachers in a public school setting. However, for some reason, there is a notion that anyone with any BS degree can teach in Early Childhood.

Still one of the biggest hurdles in Early Childhood is that trilemma of quality, compensation and affordability. Here in Kansas, some of us have been looking at what a livable wage should be. In Kansas for an individual (no children) it would be about $24,000 a year. Teachers at the entry level with their BS in public school settings make about $42,000 a year, with a masters about $49,000 and with a doctorate about #57,000. While even these salaries seem a bit low, our early childhood professionals with the same degree levels should be making at least these amounts. Given this information, our teachers with CDA credentials should be making about $29,000 a year and with a two year, AS degree about $35,000. To say the least, this is not happening.

One thing that needs to change is the notion that anyone with a HS diploma can take care of and educate young children. In the private sector, to try to maintain affordability, warm and breathing seems to pass for quality. Yes, a qualified babysitter can take care of one or two children for brief amounts of time, but parents don't realize what is happening in child care centers with unqualified persons. Classrooms can look more like a scene from The Lord of the Flies.

I think as preschools become attached to public schools, they will require a teacher with a Bachelor's degree and salaries will be commensurate. I just hope it will be early childhood qualified professionals at the Bachelor's level and not just anyone with any education degree.

Personally, I would like to see universal Head Start and Early Head Start for all children with qualified professionals in all classrooms. I do think there could be a sliding scale for tuition based on family salaries. That would create more equitable classrooms, too, when having children together from all cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Given that so many of our early childhood settings are in private for profit settings, I do think that licensure/certification should follow the teachers in early childhood just as they do for other educators rather than just or in addition to the settings. In our area, much is given to businesses and industry in the form of TIF (Tax Increment Financing). TIF causes border wars between Missouri and Kansas where businesses are constantly moving back and forth to gain tax advantages. Recently Sly James (the outgoing major of Kansas City) tried to pass a bill for Early Childhood Education with a regressive tax on constituents. Needless to say, it didn't pass. What I would rather see, rather than TIF, are districts being set up around businesses and even farming communities that take into account all the childcare centers in their areas. Businesses and communities would then be designated to make a certain amount of charitable contributions (tax free or tax deductible) to the centers in their areas; but only when the centers are hiring highly qualified Early Childhood educators. It should be at least CDA credentialing at the teacher aid/floater levels, AS/two year degree teachers at the lead teacher levels and bachelors and up at the coordinating teacher/director levels. These tax incentives should follow the amount of contributions made to Early Childhood Care and Education.

With hope for the future,

Diana

Diana Hurst

MA Curriculum & Instruction: K-12 w/emphasis in Early Childhood Education Professor, Early Childhood Education Johnson County Community College

12345 College Boulevard

Box 36 Overland Park, Kansas 66212

Office: CLB 434 913.469.8500 ext 3492

Everyone knows that the mind will not be kept from contemplating what it loves. -Mary Astell

The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto ("e-mail") is sent by the Johnson County Community College ("JCCC") and is intended to be confidential and for the use of only the individual or entity named above. The information may be protected by federal and state privacy and disclosures acts or other legal rules. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are notified that retention, dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please immediately notify JCCC by email reply and immediately and permanently delete this e-mail message and any attachments thereto. Thank you.

23. RE: Salary

Thanks for the shout out Nora Krieger,you add very many important and articulate points to the discussion of salary. As I mentioned in another discussion topic on this forum, " The preschool Pinterest Trap", I think so many of our difficulties in ECE come from great people who get their education off websites like Pinterest. Although there are many definitions of curriculum, the core of curriculum in ECE is a theory of development- what creates or causes learning and growth in children? How do children learn? By simply aging, by watching, by listening? Most of what is offered on TeachersPay Teachers is NOT core curriculum, but lesson plans; there is a critical difference! This is one reason we are all still wasting our breath explaining why "Calendar Lessons" are more a distraction to learning than a learning objective! Also, this is why early childhood educators got stuck getting paid pennies to cut out shapes for collages, while many children with developmental concerns remain without support until the problem is entrenched, and other areas of development are compromised. Sorry if this seems like "thread-jacking" I have wondered off the topic of salary, but I do see the connection across many discussions on this forum. It's not about leaving some teachers out in the cold, but it is about organizing and supporting each other in moving forward so that all American children & families can benefit from high quality, affordable, DAP early childhood education! We are some of the first eyes to see young children in settings out of the home: we can & should be screening, but we can't tread into the complicated & nuanced art of screening without the proper training, education & experience to do so in an effective, gentle and highly professional way. Furthermore, we should be compensated for our skill-set & expertise accordingly!

Education and experience are important. I would also say that we need to advocate for a stand-alone ECE degree that is based on a program that targets providing education and experience connected to NAEYC's designated span for early childhood. Too many teacher preparation programs do not provide preparation that provides deep understanding and skill needed to teach children birth through age 8. Most programs and state regulations only recognize the need for certification in early childhood education for teaching prek in public schools. The preparation is diluted by including the most emphasis on middle grades. I have always felt that to teach children of early childhood ages, certification in early childhood should be required, not an elementary certification, which in my State covers kindergarten through grade 6. A good overlap grade for both certifications would be grade 3.

In all fields, there are folks who have graduated with grades that allow them to acquire the stamp of approval by the State to work in a variety of fields. Does this mean they are great lawyers, doctors, teachers? Not necessarily! At the university level, can we provide experiences that help teachers of younger children use their knowledge from course work to understand the children with whom they work in a way that promotes their optimal development and recognize when special accommodations are needed to help specific children better thrive as well as include families in this growth process? I think we can provide teachers with observational skills, analytic skills, and interaction skills that will lead to really good classroom experiences for children. On the other hand, when teachers are viewed as technicians who only have to implement a packaged curriculum that was written far away by someone else who does not know your group of children, critical thinking and the knowledge needed to think critically begin to shut down. Eventually, teachers are just following someone else's ideas that may or may not be good for their particular children.

In addition, as part of preparing teachers, we work to help future teachers explore their beliefs about children and learning. We hope that they will become aware of their implicit biases in order to check them when they see them expressed in their behavior.

It is not enough to love children, although that is extremely important. Coming into the early childhood setting without the requisite "schooling" and beginning the journey with a CDA is a start but people choose whether they want to go further to develop a deeper understanding of children's development and how they learn.

Salaries are very low in our field for a variety of reasons. Teaching in an early childhood classroom, especially with the youngest children is very "labor intensive". One reason for the low salary in our field is connected to a widely held belief that you do not need any knowledge to care for and educate young children. Another is the lack of financial support for parents to pay for the high cost of educating young children in quality environments. Quality costs money! There are other reasons as well, too many to list.

There is a danger for which NAEYC has to watch out that in raising the bar for teachers of young children they will set up an inflexible system that does not permit evaluating individuals' backgrounds, knowledge, and experience, only looking at the formal credentials. Even medical school utilizes some flexibility for admission to programs. To go to medical school, there are many who approach it through an alternate route after college, taking courses and exams to "ready" themselves for medical school. In addition, there are others who come to medicine from a related field who already have a deep knowledge of some of the knowledge that medical school provides. Again, through testing, students who have mastered some of the knowledge they need are excused from taking courses they have already mastered.

When you evaluate an employee, you look at qualifications and daily practice. It is such a sad burden of our work in early childhood education that we pick each other apart rather than stand together. Let's say you are looking to hire a lawyer- hopefully, you look for one who has the right education & credentials. Now there may be an excellent paralegal in the law office, one who is spot on, detail oriented and goes the extra mile, but you don't hire them to the work you need a lawyer to complete. There also might be a lazy lawyer working in the office- okay, you don't hire that lawyer either. You go to a dentist to get your teeth cleaned, the dental hygienist often does this work, but please don't do to a dental office that has no dentists! Most of the time you only need a cleaning, but we accept the need for the d noisy, with a specific degree earned through a regulated system of education.I'm tired of hearing "there are no experts"! That's ridiculous. Perhaps most of the time, and for most of the children, good enough will do, and great love will make preschool and development soar! But their are children with developmental issues, traumatic experiences, special needs, that make having a deep understanding of of development necessary. Our profession is riddled with misconceptions that seem perfectly plausible, but actually hinder a child's ability to learn! Unconscious biases that increase the educational gaps between different groups, developmental disorders that go unseen, and become greater hurdles to successful learning later in childhood, I can go on and on. Just look at the plight of dual language learners when placed with teachers who lack a background and experience in language development!Background AND experience- it is a sad state of affairs that some one could graduate from an amazing program in child development with the highest marks, but not have been required to hold and infant, let alone manage a class of toddlers!one last thing: I have often heard the complaint that expert teachers with degrees are lazy, or lack common sense. In reality, one of the most common mistakes being made in preschool classes is not allowing children time to work through problems on their own (safety first of course!). To sit back and watch before jumping in is the often a more educated and appropriate response than over-managing. Too many "projects," too much time spent sitting and listening, too many "process oriented projects that need one to one adult child oversight in order to achieve the Pinterest look, too much class and home time spent cutting and gluing and all the rest, when some of the best we have to offer our preschoolers is to listen to them, let them ask and answer the questions, give them the supplies thank time for their favorite games, from super heroes to worms, instead of saddling them with our "important learning agendas..."so yes, you can't necessarily teach some one how to listen to a child with love and respect, but you can and should teach teachers when finger paint is more developmentally appropriate than crayons...

I never meant to offend anyone, but I still maintain that a degree does not equal better or more worthy financially. It is offensive to those excellent ECE teachers who do not have higher degrees to imply that as well. I consider the PERSON and what I see them doing with the children to equal quality. The same can be said about teachers in K-12, or people in other jobs outside of education. If it becomes a requirement, fine, but I would be afraid that I would lose quality teachers who can't afford or are unable to go (back) to school for whatever reason.

I too was insulted by Jennifer's posts as well as Janelle Schmidt's. We know from brain research that preschool is a child's most important educational experience. That's why NAEYC is trying to professionalize the field (and increase salaries) by encouraging further knowledge and awareness of instructional methods, development, cultures, communities, etc. Early childhood has it's own pedagogy and mastering it is important. A good teacher needs to know the reasoning, history and research behind the practices. When challenging situations arise, I go to the research and know how to read and evaluate it.

I didn't know what I didn't know until I went to grad school. The learning built on what I knew as well as introduce me to new ideas through a variety of experiences; practicums, internships and "real life experiences" even though I had been teaching for 15 years. I know there are people who are naturally good with children but they need to add that to a strong educational background to make them the teacher every young child deserves.

I am sorry you felt insulted by my comment. This comment was just used as an example of mine to further my points in my post. I know that all MAs are not researched based and work in centers. I mentioned this in my post. I have worked with those with high school degrees to Masters Degrees and so on. Everyone can be a hard worker and dedicated to his or her craft.

Yes, you may know more about child development through extra schooling and that is great. The point of my post is to say that everyone should have a chance to work and receive compensation based on the quality of their work, not just their education. ​I do not have that option in my state. It is very degree-based and theTeachers Union has a stronghold on career growth.

I could work ten times harder than a co-worker with a Masters Degree and they will always receive more money for the same job. This is truly disheartening and I feel the pressure of "not being good enough" to teach within a school district due to economic reasons. At this time, I am unable to afford to further my education so that I can teach in a school district.

It is wonderful to hear that your state is so progressive in allowing those who have proved themselves in the classroom a fighting chance for equal pay and status. I hope one day my state will follow in Nevada's footsteps.

@JenniferHatcher wrote "whereas someone with a Masters may feel more entitled and slack off on their work just because of their degree."I take exception to the fact that you say that about those of us with an MA. We are the ones that truely understand a child's social, emotional, physical, and educational well-being in every aspect of an activity. It's insulting to hear that we don't know how to put theory into practice. Not all MAs are in reserched based positions. We scrub toilets and change diapers like everyone.That being said, I have worked with non degree and CDA partners who have had equal or more pay than me and they are the best at what they do.Nevada has a career ladder and NAEYC has programs in place to recognize teaching positions. We are moving forward in informing and educating legislators.early ed for pres​identbaby steps​

I understand that quality early childhood education is the key to a promising future and teacher salaries should be based on their educational background (degrees) to a certain degree.

I have worked with many people that have Associates, Bachelors, and Master degrees that are excellent at teaching, but others who lack the true passion and teaching ability and are not as deserving of a higher salary than those who may only have a High School Diploma or CDA. They tend to be more "book smart", but lack the true understanding of a child's social, emotional, physical, and educational well-being.

I myself learned later in life that I wanted to work with young children. I had gone to a trade school be be an esthetician (spa technician), but found while working in the industry that it was not the best fit for me. I was then offered a position as a Youth Services Assistant at a library. Here I performed storytimes, created programming, bibliographies, helped patrons find books and do research without an MLIS. This was when I found my passion for working with young children.

I went back to school and received a Certificate in Early Childhood Education and also received my CDA Credential. I began working in daycare and found that many of the teachers lacked a true love of the profession and many did not have any wanting to make ECE their career.They had degrees in other fields and just fell "into the profession".

It is so ridiculous to say a person who has a high school diploma is not as qualified as someone with a Masters Degree to work in a daycare center as a lead teacher. Many people have life experience that lends to the richness and culture of the learning environment. They have wonderful ideas and put their plans into action, whereas someone with a Masters may feel more entitled and slack off on their work just because of their degree. In this respect, I would pay the person with the high school diploma a similar wage due to their eagerness and intelligence working with children.

It is hard to make a blanked statement that life experience, hard work, and passion cannot lead to a quality teacher. Just ask some of the richest men and women in the world who formed businesses with only a high school diploma such as Bill Gates this. I'm sure he would say something quite similar. Book smarts do not equal putting teaching skills into use.

I myself would love to work in a school district, but unfortunately do not have the correct degree to do so at this time. Many people have acknowledged my teaching ability and say that I would make a great Kindergarten, 1st, or 2nd grade teacher due to my hard work and diligence.

I also create curriculum on TeacherspayTeachers.com for toddlers to second graders and have gotten many compliments on my work.

Thankfully, some school districts will allow me to work as a teacher's aide in these grades and that is an absolute joy. They understand that due to the economy and need to work that many people can not afford to go back to school for a higher education at this time.

I salute these school districts and hope one day that talent and innate ability in working with the children will lead to a change in our school systems around the country.

It is sad that the compensation for Early Childhood professionals is still so low. As a new teacher back in the early 90's with a combination of elementary course work as well as early childhood, I was able to begin with a salary commensurate with the other teachers in a public school setting. However, for some reason, there is a notion that anyone with any BS degree can teach in Early Childhood.

Still one of the biggest hurdles in Early Childhood is that trilemma of quality, compensation and affordability. Here in Kansas, some of us have been looking at what a livable wage should be. In Kansas for an individual (no children) it would be about $24,000 a year. Teachers at the entry level with their BS in public school settings make about $42,000 a year, with a masters about $49,000 and with a doctorate about #57,000. While even these salaries seem a bit low, our early childhood professionals with the same degree levels should be making at least these amounts. Given this information, our teachers with CDA credentials should be making about $29,000 a year and with a two year, AS degree about $35,000. To say the least, this is not happening.

One thing that needs to change is the notion that anyone with a HS diploma can take care of and educate young children. In the private sector, to try to maintain affordability, warm and breathing seems to pass for quality. Yes, a qualified babysitter can take care of one or two children for brief amounts of time, but parents don't realize what is happening in child care centers with unqualified persons. Classrooms can look more like a scene from The Lord of the Flies.

I think as preschools become attached to public schools, they will require a teacher with a Bachelor's degree and salaries will be commensurate. I just hope it will be early childhood qualified professionals at the Bachelor's level and not just anyone with any education degree.

Personally, I would like to see universal Head Start and Early Head Start for all children with qualified professionals in all classrooms. I do think there could be a sliding scale for tuition based on family salaries. That would create more equitable classrooms, too, when having children together from all cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Given that so many of our early childhood settings are in private for profit settings, I do think that licensure/certification should follow the teachers in early childhood just as they do for other educators rather than just or in addition to the settings. In our area, much is given to businesses and industry in the form of TIF (Tax Increment Financing). TIF causes border wars between Missouri and Kansas where businesses are constantly moving back and forth to gain tax advantages. Recently Sly James (the outgoing major of Kansas City) tried to pass a bill for Early Childhood Education with a regressive tax on constituents. Needless to say, it didn't pass. What I would rather see, rather than TIF, are districts being set up around businesses and even farming communities that take into account all the childcare centers in their areas. Businesses and communities would then be designated to make a certain amount of charitable contributions (tax free or tax deductible) to the centers in their areas; but only when the centers are hiring highly qualified Early Childhood educators. It should be at least CDA credentialing at the teacher aid/floater levels, AS/two year degree teachers at the lead teacher levels and bachelors and up at the coordinating teacher/director levels. These tax incentives should follow the amount of contributions made to Early Childhood Care and Education.

With hope for the future,

Diana

Diana Hurst

MA Curriculum & Instruction: K-12 w/emphasis in Early Childhood Education Professor, Early Childhood Education Johnson County Community College

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24. RE: Salary

I've been following this discussion regarding salary, education, and experience within the early childhood workforce, especially those who provide direct, day to day early education for young children Birth-Age 8. This debate of experience vs. education has been something that other workforces- e.g., medical field, legal field, etc. have dealt with throughout history. Have you been following the National Task Force work with Power to the Profession? This consists of 15 co-equal organizations that serve the early childhood workforce. NAEYC is one plus 14 other organizations- e.g. Child Care Aware of America, National Association for Family Child Care, Zero to Three, Division of Early Childhood from the Council of Exceptional Children, National Association of Early Childhood Educators, National Association of Elementary School Principals, National Head Start Association, etc. To find out more about this current national early childhood workforce initiative go to: https://www.naeyc.org/our-work/initiatives/profession While NAEYC provides the website for Power to the Profession, the information from the National P2P Task Force and electronic surveys for feedback, is for everyone to view, read, and respond. Until June 14th- a national survey on Draft 2 of the "Professional Standards and Competencies of Early Childhood Educators" is available for individual feedback. Please review and respond!

In 2015, the Institute of Medicine- National Academies of Science- "Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth through Age Eight: A Unifying Foundation" was released. The link to this important report is: http://www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/Reports/2015/Birth-To-Eight.aspx "The report offers recommendations to build a workforce that is unified by the foundation of the science of child development and early learning and the shared knowledge and competencies that are needed to provide consistent, high-quality support for the development and early learning of children from birth through age 8." A second report, "Transforming the Financing of Early Childhood Education", was released in 2018. http://www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/Reports/2018/transforming-the-financing-of-early-care-and-education.aspx "The report offers specific recommendations for making early childhood education and care more affordable for families, linking funding to high quality-standards, and financing the transformation of the education and care workforce."

Raising compensation- wages and benefits- along with working towards a more educated early childhood workforce- will take federal and state public funding. Other businesses have government subsidies as part of their business plans. Agriculture, oil, utilities, transportation, highways/streets, public education, so why not early childhood education? the Early Childhood Education's workforce also needs infrastructure supports to seek additional education whether it be CDA, AA, BA/BS, or more. This means scholarships for fees and tuition plus other expenses while seeking education goals. Colleges and Universities, offering Early Childhood programs, need to be accessible, affordable, and available to those currently in the EC Workforce as well as those who are preparing to enter the Early Childhood Workforce.

It will take a comprehensive effort along with collaboration with early childhood systems, families, employers, policy makers, and businesses. Here is an opinion article, that I thought captured some of the complexities of early childhood education. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/24/opinion/child-care-crisis.html We are in an early education crisis in this nation. Solutions to close the supply -demand gap involves increasing the supply of high-quality early education programs across all settings for parents to select from to meet the demands of our countries labor force. The Early Childhood Workforce is the Workforce behind the Workforce! To keep the U.S. economy growing, in a time of full employment, parents of young children need reliable, affordable, accessible early education programs! Nationally 70% of young children live in households where all parents are employed.

We all have anecdotes and experiences that inform our opinions and beliefs about what is best. We also have fears of changes that could involve unintended consequences. It is up to us, to study research findings, discuss with colleagues, and seek solutions to complex issues. We are better together!

Thanks for the shout out Nora Krieger,you add very many important and articulate points to the discussion of salary. As I mentioned in another discussion topic on this forum, " The preschool Pinterest Trap", I think so many of our difficulties in ECE come from great people who get their education off websites like Pinterest. Although there are many definitions of curriculum, the core of curriculum in ECE is a theory of development- what creates or causes learning and growth in children? How do children learn? By simply aging, by watching, by listening? Most of what is offered on TeachersPay Teachers is NOT core curriculum, but lesson plans; there is a critical difference! This is one reason we are all still wasting our breath explaining why "Calendar Lessons" are more a distraction to learning than a learning objective! Also, this is why early childhood educators got stuck getting paid pennies to cut out shapes for collages, while many children with developmental concerns remain without support until the problem is entrenched, and other areas of development are compromised. Sorry if this seems like "thread-jacking" I have wondered off the topic of salary, but I do see the connection across many discussions on this forum. It's not about leaving some teachers out in the cold, but it is about organizing and supporting each other in moving forward so that all American children & families can benefit from high quality, affordable, DAP early childhood education! We are some of the first eyes to see young children in settings out of the home: we can & should be screening, but we can't tread into the complicated & nuanced art of screening without the proper training, education & experience to do so in an effective, gentle and highly professional way. Furthermore, we should be compensated for our skill-set & expertise accordingly!

Education and experience are important. I would also say that we need to advocate for a stand-alone ECE degree that is based on a program that targets providing education and experience connected to NAEYC's designated span for early childhood. Too many teacher preparation programs do not provide preparation that provides deep understanding and skill needed to teach children birth through age 8. Most programs and state regulations only recognize the need for certification in early childhood education for teaching prek in public schools. The preparation is diluted by including the most emphasis on middle grades. I have always felt that to teach children of early childhood ages, certification in early childhood should be required, not an elementary certification, which in my State covers kindergarten through grade 6. A good overlap grade for both certifications would be grade 3.

In all fields, there are folks who have graduated with grades that allow them to acquire the stamp of approval by the State to work in a variety of fields. Does this mean they are great lawyers, doctors, teachers? Not necessarily! At the university level, can we provide experiences that help teachers of younger children use their knowledge from course work to understand the children with whom they work in a way that promotes their optimal development and recognize when special accommodations are needed to help specific children better thrive as well as include families in this growth process? I think we can provide teachers with observational skills, analytic skills, and interaction skills that will lead to really good classroom experiences for children. On the other hand, when teachers are viewed as technicians who only have to implement a packaged curriculum that was written far away by someone else who does not know your group of children, critical thinking and the knowledge needed to think critically begin to shut down. Eventually, teachers are just following someone else's ideas that may or may not be good for their particular children.

In addition, as part of preparing teachers, we work to help future teachers explore their beliefs about children and learning. We hope that they will become aware of their implicit biases in order to check them when they see them expressed in their behavior.

It is not enough to love children, although that is extremely important. Coming into the early childhood setting without the requisite "schooling" and beginning the journey with a CDA is a start but people choose whether they want to go further to develop a deeper understanding of children's development and how they learn.

Salaries are very low in our field for a variety of reasons. Teaching in an early childhood classroom, especially with the youngest children is very "labor intensive". One reason for the low salary in our field is connected to a widely held belief that you do not need any knowledge to care for and educate young children. Another is the lack of financial support for parents to pay for the high cost of educating young children in quality environments. Quality costs money! There are other reasons as well, too many to list.

There is a danger for which NAEYC has to watch out that in raising the bar for teachers of young children they will set up an inflexible system that does not permit evaluating individuals' backgrounds, knowledge, and experience, only looking at the formal credentials. Even medical school utilizes some flexibility for admission to programs. To go to medical school, there are many who approach it through an alternate route after college, taking courses and exams to "ready" themselves for medical school. In addition, there are others who come to medicine from a related field who already have a deep knowledge of some of the knowledge that medical school provides. Again, through testing, students who have mastered some of the knowledge they need are excused from taking courses they have already mastered.

When you evaluate an employee, you look at qualifications and daily practice. It is such a sad burden of our work in early childhood education that we pick each other apart rather than stand together. Let's say you are looking to hire a lawyer- hopefully, you look for one who has the right education & credentials. Now there may be an excellent paralegal in the law office, one who is spot on, detail oriented and goes the extra mile, but you don't hire them to the work you need a lawyer to complete. There also might be a lazy lawyer working in the office- okay, you don't hire that lawyer either. You go to a dentist to get your teeth cleaned, the dental hygienist often does this work, but please don't do to a dental office that has no dentists! Most of the time you only need a cleaning, but we accept the need for the d noisy, with a specific degree earned through a regulated system of education.I'm tired of hearing "there are no experts"! That's ridiculous. Perhaps most of the time, and for most of the children, good enough will do, and great love will make preschool and development soar! But their are children with developmental issues, traumatic experiences, special needs, that make having a deep understanding of of development necessary. Our profession is riddled with misconceptions that seem perfectly plausible, but actually hinder a child's ability to learn! Unconscious biases that increase the educational gaps between different groups, developmental disorders that go unseen, and become greater hurdles to successful learning later in childhood, I can go on and on. Just look at the plight of dual language learners when placed with teachers who lack a background and experience in language development!Background AND experience- it is a sad state of affairs that some one could graduate from an amazing program in child development with the highest marks, but not have been required to hold and infant, let alone manage a class of toddlers!one last thing: I have often heard the complaint that expert teachers with degrees are lazy, or lack common sense. In reality, one of the most common mistakes being made in preschool classes is not allowing children time to work through problems on their own (safety first of course!). To sit back and watch before jumping in is the often a more educated and appropriate response than over-managing. Too many "projects," too much time spent sitting and listening, too many "process oriented projects that need one to one adult child oversight in order to achieve the Pinterest look, too much class and home time spent cutting and gluing and all the rest, when some of the best we have to offer our preschoolers is to listen to them, let them ask and answer the questions, give them the supplies thank time for their favorite games, from super heroes to worms, instead of saddling them with our "important learning agendas..."so yes, you can't necessarily teach some one how to listen to a child with love and respect, but you can and should teach teachers when finger paint is more developmentally appropriate than crayons...

I never meant to offend anyone, but I still maintain that a degree does not equal better or more worthy financially. It is offensive to those excellent ECE teachers who do not have higher degrees to imply that as well. I consider the PERSON and what I see them doing with the children to equal quality. The same can be said about teachers in K-12, or people in other jobs outside of education. If it becomes a requirement, fine, but I would be afraid that I would lose quality teachers who can't afford or are unable to go (back) to school for whatever reason.

I too was insulted by Jennifer's posts as well as Janelle Schmidt's. We know from brain research that preschool is a child's most important educational experience. That's why NAEYC is trying to professionalize the field (and increase salaries) by encouraging further knowledge and awareness of instructional methods, development, cultures, communities, etc. Early childhood has it's own pedagogy and mastering it is important. A good teacher needs to know the reasoning, history and research behind the practices. When challenging situations arise, I go to the research and know how to read and evaluate it.

I didn't know what I didn't know until I went to grad school. The learning built on what I knew as well as introduce me to new ideas through a variety of experiences; practicums, internships and "real life experiences" even though I had been teaching for 15 years. I know there are people who are naturally good with children but they need to add that to a strong educational background to make them the teacher every young child deserves.

I am sorry you felt insulted by my comment. This comment was just used as an example of mine to further my points in my post. I know that all MAs are not researched based and work in centers. I mentioned this in my post. I have worked with those with high school degrees to Masters Degrees and so on. Everyone can be a hard worker and dedicated to his or her craft.

Yes, you may know more about child development through extra schooling and that is great. The point of my post is to say that everyone should have a chance to work and receive compensation based on the quality of their work, not just their education. ​I do not have that option in my state. It is very degree-based and theTeachers Union has a stronghold on career growth.

I could work ten times harder than a co-worker with a Masters Degree and they will always receive more money for the same job. This is truly disheartening and I feel the pressure of "not being good enough" to teach within a school district due to economic reasons. At this time, I am unable to afford to further my education so that I can teach in a school district.

It is wonderful to hear that your state is so progressive in allowing those who have proved themselves in the classroom a fighting chance for equal pay and status. I hope one day my state will follow in Nevada's footsteps.

@JenniferHatcher wrote "whereas someone with a Masters may feel more entitled and slack off on their work just because of their degree."I take exception to the fact that you say that about those of us with an MA. We are the ones that truely understand a child's social, emotional, physical, and educational well-being in every aspect of an activity. It's insulting to hear that we don't know how to put theory into practice. Not all MAs are in reserched based positions. We scrub toilets and change diapers like everyone.That being said, I have worked with non degree and CDA partners who have had equal or more pay than me and they are the best at what they do.Nevada has a career ladder and NAEYC has programs in place to recognize teaching positions. We are moving forward in informing and educating legislators.early ed for pres​identbaby steps​

I understand that quality early childhood education is the key to a promising future and teacher salaries should be based on their educational background (degrees) to a certain degree.

I have worked with many people that have Associates, Bachelors, and Master degrees that are excellent at teaching, but others who lack the true passion and teaching ability and are not as deserving of a higher salary than those who may only have a High School Diploma or CDA. They tend to be more "book smart", but lack the true understanding of a child's social, emotional, physical, and educational well-being.

I myself learned later in life that I wanted to work with young children. I had gone to a trade school be be an esthetician (spa technician), but found while working in the industry that it was not the best fit for me. I was then offered a position as a Youth Services Assistant at a library. Here I performed storytimes, created programming, bibliographies, helped patrons find books and do research without an MLIS. This was when I found my passion for working with young children.

I went back to school and received a Certificate in Early Childhood Education and also received my CDA Credential. I began working in daycare and found that many of the teachers lacked a true love of the profession and many did not have any wanting to make ECE their career.They had degrees in other fields and just fell "into the profession".

It is so ridiculous to say a person who has a high school diploma is not as qualified as someone with a Masters Degree to work in a daycare center as a lead teacher. Many people have life experience that lends to the richness and culture of the learning environment. They have wonderful ideas and put their plans into action, whereas someone with a Masters may feel more entitled and slack off on their work just because of their degree. In this respect, I would pay the person with the high school diploma a similar wage due to their eagerness and intelligence working with children.

It is hard to make a blanked statement that life experience, hard work, and passion cannot lead to a quality teacher. Just ask some of the richest men and women in the world who formed businesses with only a high school diploma such as Bill Gates this. I'm sure he would say something quite similar. Book smarts do not equal putting teaching skills into use.

I myself would love to work in a school district, but unfortunately do not have the correct degree to do so at this time. Many people have acknowledged my teaching ability and say that I would make a great Kindergarten, 1st, or 2nd grade teacher due to my hard work and diligence.

I also create curriculum on TeacherspayTeachers.com for toddlers to second graders and have gotten many compliments on my work.

Thankfully, some school districts will allow me to work as a teacher's aide in these grades and that is an absolute joy. They understand that due to the economy and need to work that many people can not afford to go back to school for a higher education at this time.

I salute these school districts and hope one day that talent and innate ability in working with the children will lead to a change in our school systems around the country.

It is sad that the compensation for Early Childhood professionals is still so low. As a new teacher back in the early 90's with a combination of elementary course work as well as early childhood, I was able to begin with a salary commensurate with the other teachers in a public school setting. However, for some reason, there is a notion that anyone with any BS degree can teach in Early Childhood.

Still one of the biggest hurdles in Early Childhood is that trilemma of quality, compensation and affordability. Here in Kansas, some of us have been looking at what a livable wage should be. In Kansas for an individual (no children) it would be about $24,000 a year. Teachers at the entry level with their BS in public school settings make about $42,000 a year, with a masters about $49,000 and with a doctorate about #57,000. While even these salaries seem a bit low, our early childhood professionals with the same degree levels should be making at least these amounts. Given this information, our teachers with CDA credentials should be making about $29,000 a year and with a two year, AS degree about $35,000. To say the least, this is not happening.

One thing that needs to change is the notion that anyone with a HS diploma can take care of and educate young children. In the private sector, to try to maintain affordability, warm and breathing seems to pass for quality. Yes, a qualified babysitter can take care of one or two children for brief amounts of time, but parents don't realize what is happening in child care centers with unqualified persons. Classrooms can look more like a scene from The Lord of the Flies.

I think as preschools become attached to public schools, they will require a teacher with a Bachelor's degree and salaries will be commensurate. I just hope it will be early childhood qualified professionals at the Bachelor's level and not just anyone with any education degree.

Personally, I would like to see universal Head Start and Early Head Start for all children with qualified professionals in all classrooms. I do think there could be a sliding scale for tuition based on family salaries. That would create more equitable classrooms, too, when having children together from all cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Given that so many of our early childhood settings are in private for profit settings, I do think that licensure/certification should follow the teachers in early childhood just as they do for other educators rather than just or in addition to the settings. In our area, much is given to businesses and industry in the form of TIF (Tax Increment Financing). TIF causes border wars between Missouri and Kansas where businesses are constantly moving back and forth to gain tax advantages. Recently Sly James (the outgoing major of Kansas City) tried to pass a bill for Early Childhood Education with a regressive tax on constituents. Needless to say, it didn't pass. What I would rather see, rather than TIF, are districts being set up around businesses and even farming communities that take into account all the childcare centers in their areas. Businesses and communities would then be designated to make a certain amount of charitable contributions (tax free or tax deductible) to the centers in their areas; but only when the centers are hiring highly qualified Early Childhood educators. It should be at least CDA credentialing at the teacher aid/floater levels, AS/two year degree teachers at the lead teacher levels and bachelors and up at the coordinating teacher/director levels. These tax incentives should follow the amount of contributions made to Early Childhood Care and Education.

With hope for the future,

Diana

Diana Hurst

MA Curriculum & Instruction: K-12 w/emphasis in Early Childhood Education Professor, Early Childhood Education Johnson County Community College

12345 College Boulevard

Box 36 Overland Park, Kansas 66212

Office: CLB 434 913.469.8500 ext 3492

Everyone knows that the mind will not be kept from contemplating what it loves. -Mary Astell

The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto ("e-mail") is sent by the Johnson County Community College ("JCCC") and is intended to be confidential and for the use of only the individual or entity named above. The information may be protected by federal and state privacy and disclosures acts or other legal rules. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are notified that retention, dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please immediately notify JCCC by email reply and immediately and permanently delete this e-mail message and any attachments thereto. Thank you.

25. RE: Salary

Well said, Margo. I agree with the value of sitting back and watching first! I was shamed for doing this in a public preschool program instead of pushing into a mandated curriculum of pre-planned activities. Especially with diverse learners, you need time to really see them and how they show their strengths and understandings.

When you evaluate an employee, you look at qualifications and daily practice. It is such a sad burden of our work in early childhood education that we pick each other apart rather than stand together. Let's say you are looking to hire a lawyer- hopefully, you look for one who has the right education & credentials. Now there may be an excellent paralegal in the law office, one who is spot on, detail oriented and goes the extra mile, but you don't hire them to the work you need a lawyer to complete. There also might be a lazy lawyer working in the office- okay, you don't hire that lawyer either. You go to a dentist to get your teeth cleaned, the dental hygienist often does this work, but please don't do to a dental office that has no dentists! Most of the time you only need a cleaning, but we accept the need for the d noisy, with a specific degree earned through a regulated system of education.I'm tired of hearing "there are no experts"! That's ridiculous. Perhaps most of the time, and for most of the children, good enough will do, and great love will make preschool and development soar! But their are children with developmental issues, traumatic experiences, special needs, that make having a deep understanding of of development necessary. Our profession is riddled with misconceptions that seem perfectly plausible, but actually hinder a child's ability to learn! Unconscious biases that increase the educational gaps between different groups, developmental disorders that go unseen, and become greater hurdles to successful learning later in childhood, I can go on and on. Just look at the plight of dual language learners when placed with teachers who lack a background and experience in language development!Background AND experience- it is a sad state of affairs that some one could graduate from an amazing program in child development with the highest marks, but not have been required to hold and infant, let alone manage a class of toddlers!one last thing: I have often heard the complaint that expert teachers with degrees are lazy, or lack common sense. In reality, one of the most common mistakes being made in preschool classes is not allowing children time to work through problems on their own (safety first of course!). To sit back and watch before jumping in is the often a more educated and appropriate response than over-managing. Too many "projects," too much time spent sitting and listening, too many "process oriented projects that need one to one adult child oversight in order to achieve the Pinterest look, too much class and home time spent cutting and gluing and all the rest, when some of the best we have to offer our preschoolers is to listen to them, let them ask and answer the questions, give them the supplies thank time for their favorite games, from super heroes to worms, instead of saddling them with our "important learning agendas..."so yes, you can't necessarily teach some one how to listen to a child with love and respect, but you can and should teach teachers when finger paint is more developmentally appropriate than crayons...

I never meant to offend anyone, but I still maintain that a degree does not equal better or more worthy financially. It is offensive to those excellent ECE teachers who do not have higher degrees to imply that as well. I consider the PERSON and what I see them doing with the children to equal quality. The same can be said about teachers in K-12, or people in other jobs outside of education. If it becomes a requirement, fine, but I would be afraid that I would lose quality teachers who can't afford or are unable to go (back) to school for whatever reason.

I too was insulted by Jennifer's posts as well as Janelle Schmidt's. We know from brain research that preschool is a child's most important educational experience. That's why NAEYC is trying to professionalize the field (and increase salaries) by encouraging further knowledge and awareness of instructional methods, development, cultures, communities, etc. Early childhood has it's own pedagogy and mastering it is important. A good teacher needs to know the reasoning, history and research behind the practices. When challenging situations arise, I go to the research and know how to read and evaluate it.

I didn't know what I didn't know until I went to grad school. The learning built on what I knew as well as introduce me to new ideas through a variety of experiences; practicums, internships and "real life experiences" even though I had been teaching for 15 years. I know there are people who are naturally good with children but they need to add that to a strong educational background to make them the teacher every young child deserves.

I am sorry you felt insulted by my comment. This comment was just used as an example of mine to further my points in my post. I know that all MAs are not researched based and work in centers. I mentioned this in my post. I have worked with those with high school degrees to Masters Degrees and so on. Everyone can be a hard worker and dedicated to his or her craft.

Yes, you may know more about child development through extra schooling and that is great. The point of my post is to say that everyone should have a chance to work and receive compensation based on the quality of their work, not just their education. ​I do not have that option in my state. It is very degree-based and theTeachers Union has a stronghold on career growth.

I could work ten times harder than a co-worker with a Masters Degree and they will always receive more money for the same job. This is truly disheartening and I feel the pressure of "not being good enough" to teach within a school district due to economic reasons. At this time, I am unable to afford to further my education so that I can teach in a school district.

It is wonderful to hear that your state is so progressive in allowing those who have proved themselves in the classroom a fighting chance for equal pay and status. I hope one day my state will follow in Nevada's footsteps.

@JenniferHatcher wrote "whereas someone with a Masters may feel more entitled and slack off on their work just because of their degree."I take exception to the fact that you say that about those of us with an MA. We are the ones that truely understand a child's social, emotional, physical, and educational well-being in every aspect of an activity. It's insulting to hear that we don't know how to put theory into practice. Not all MAs are in reserched based positions. We scrub toilets and change diapers like everyone.That being said, I have worked with non degree and CDA partners who have had equal or more pay than me and they are the best at what they do.Nevada has a career ladder and NAEYC has programs in place to recognize teaching positions. We are moving forward in informing and educating legislators.early ed for pres​identbaby steps​

I understand that quality early childhood education is the key to a promising future and teacher salaries should be based on their educational background (degrees) to a certain degree.

I have worked with many people that have Associates, Bachelors, and Master degrees that are excellent at teaching, but others who lack the true passion and teaching ability and are not as deserving of a higher salary than those who may only have a High School Diploma or CDA. They tend to be more "book smart", but lack the true understanding of a child's social, emotional, physical, and educational well-being.

I myself learned later in life that I wanted to work with young children. I had gone to a trade school be be an esthetician (spa technician), but found while working in the industry that it was not the best fit for me. I was then offered a position as a Youth Services Assistant at a library. Here I performed storytimes, created programming, bibliographies, helped patrons find books and do research without an MLIS. This was when I found my passion for working with young children.

I went back to school and received a Certificate in Early Childhood Education and also received my CDA Credential. I began working in daycare and found that many of the teachers lacked a true love of the profession and many did not have any wanting to make ECE their career.They had degrees in other fields and just fell "into the profession".

It is so ridiculous to say a person who has a high school diploma is not as qualified as someone with a Masters Degree to work in a daycare center as a lead teacher. Many people have life experience that lends to the richness and culture of the learning environment. They have wonderful ideas and put their plans into action, whereas someone with a Masters may feel more entitled and slack off on their work just because of their degree. In this respect, I would pay the person with the high school diploma a similar wage due to their eagerness and intelligence working with children.

It is hard to make a blanked statement that life experience, hard work, and passion cannot lead to a quality teacher. Just ask some of the richest men and women in the world who formed businesses with only a high school diploma such as Bill Gates this. I'm sure he would say something quite similar. Book smarts do not equal putting teaching skills into use.

I myself would love to work in a school district, but unfortunately do not have the correct degree to do so at this time. Many people have acknowledged my teaching ability and say that I would make a great Kindergarten, 1st, or 2nd grade teacher due to my hard work and diligence.

I also create curriculum on TeacherspayTeachers.com for toddlers to second graders and have gotten many compliments on my work.

Thankfully, some school districts will allow me to work as a teacher's aide in these grades and that is an absolute joy. They understand that due to the economy and need to work that many people can not afford to go back to school for a higher education at this time.

I salute these school districts and hope one day that talent and innate ability in working with the children will lead to a change in our school systems around the country.

It is sad that the compensation for Early Childhood professionals is still so low. As a new teacher back in the early 90's with a combination of elementary course work as well as early childhood, I was able to begin with a salary commensurate with the other teachers in a public school setting. However, for some reason, there is a notion that anyone with any BS degree can teach in Early Childhood.

Still one of the biggest hurdles in Early Childhood is that trilemma of quality, compensation and affordability. Here in Kansas, some of us have been looking at what a livable wage should be. In Kansas for an individual (no children) it would be about $24,000 a year. Teachers at the entry level with their BS in public school settings make about $42,000 a year, with a masters about $49,000 and with a doctorate about #57,000. While even these salaries seem a bit low, our early childhood professionals with the same degree levels should be making at least these amounts. Given this information, our teachers with CDA credentials should be making about $29,000 a year and with a two year, AS degree about $35,000. To say the least, this is not happening.

One thing that needs to change is the notion that anyone with a HS diploma can take care of and educate young children. In the private sector, to try to maintain affordability, warm and breathing seems to pass for quality. Yes, a qualified babysitter can take care of one or two children for brief amounts of time, but parents don't realize what is happening in child care centers with unqualified persons. Classrooms can look more like a scene from The Lord of the Flies.

I think as preschools become attached to public schools, they will require a teacher with a Bachelor's degree and salaries will be commensurate. I just hope it will be early childhood qualified professionals at the Bachelor's level and not just anyone with any education degree.

Personally, I would like to see universal Head Start and Early Head Start for all children with qualified professionals in all classrooms. I do think there could be a sliding scale for tuition based on family salaries. That would create more equitable classrooms, too, when having children together from all cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Given that so many of our early childhood settings are in private for profit settings, I do think that licensure/certification should follow the teachers in early childhood just as they do for other educators rather than just or in addition to the settings. In our area, much is given to businesses and industry in the form of TIF (Tax Increment Financing). TIF causes border wars between Missouri and Kansas where businesses are constantly moving back and forth to gain tax advantages. Recently Sly James (the outgoing major of Kansas City) tried to pass a bill for Early Childhood Education with a regressive tax on constituents. Needless to say, it didn't pass. What I would rather see, rather than TIF, are districts being set up around businesses and even farming communities that take into account all the childcare centers in their areas. Businesses and communities would then be designated to make a certain amount of charitable contributions (tax free or tax deductible) to the centers in their areas; but only when the centers are hiring highly qualified Early Childhood educators. It should be at least CDA credentialing at the teacher aid/floater levels, AS/two year degree teachers at the lead teacher levels and bachelors and up at the coordinating teacher/director levels. These tax incentives should follow the amount of contributions made to Early Childhood Care and Education.

With hope for the future,

Diana

Diana Hurst

MA Curriculum & Instruction: K-12 w/emphasis in Early Childhood Education Professor, Early Childhood Education Johnson County Community College

12345 College Boulevard

Box 36 Overland Park, Kansas 66212

Office: CLB 434 913.469.8500 ext 3492

Everyone knows that the mind will not be kept from contemplating what it loves. -Mary Astell

The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto ("e-mail") is sent by the Johnson County Community College ("JCCC") and is intended to be confidential and for the use of only the individual or entity named above. The information may be protected by federal and state privacy and disclosures acts or other legal rules. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are notified that retention, dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please immediately notify JCCC by email reply and immediately and permanently delete this e-mail message and any attachments thereto. Thank you.

26. RE: Salary

Well said! I had the same thing happen when I was a director. I brought all of my experiences in leadership to the position but then decided to go back to school to learn more. This changed everything. Although I was considered a very good director prior to going back to school for my doctorate, I knew so much more that I was able to pull on in making decisions and managing our coop center.

I too was insulted by Jennifer's posts as well as Janelle Schmidt's. We know from brain research that preschool is a child's most important educational experience. That's why NAEYC is trying to professionalize the field (and increase salaries) by encouraging further knowledge and awareness of instructional methods, development, cultures, communities, etc. Early childhood has it's own pedagogy and mastering it is important. A good teacher needs to know the reasoning, history and research behind the practices. When challenging situations arise, I go to the research and know how to read and evaluate it.

I didn't know what I didn't know until I went to grad school. The learning built on what I knew as well as introduce me to new ideas through a variety of experiences; practicums, internships and "real life experiences" even though I had been teaching for 15 years. I know there are people who are naturally good with children but they need to add that to a strong educational background to make them the teacher every young child deserves.

I am sorry you felt insulted by my comment. This comment was just used as an example of mine to further my points in my post. I know that all MAs are not researched based and work in centers. I mentioned this in my post. I have worked with those with high school degrees to Masters Degrees and so on. Everyone can be a hard worker and dedicated to his or her craft.

Yes, you may know more about child development through extra schooling and that is great. The point of my post is to say that everyone should have a chance to work and receive compensation based on the quality of their work, not just their education. ​I do not have that option in my state. It is very degree-based and theTeachers Union has a stronghold on career growth.

I could work ten times harder than a co-worker with a Masters Degree and they will always receive more money for the same job. This is truly disheartening and I feel the pressure of "not being good enough" to teach within a school district due to economic reasons. At this time, I am unable to afford to further my education so that I can teach in a school district.

It is wonderful to hear that your state is so progressive in allowing those who have proved themselves in the classroom a fighting chance for equal pay and status. I hope one day my state will follow in Nevada's footsteps.

@JenniferHatcher wrote "whereas someone with a Masters may feel more entitled and slack off on their work just because of their degree."I take exception to the fact that you say that about those of us with an MA. We are the ones that truely understand a child's social, emotional, physical, and educational well-being in every aspect of an activity. It's insulting to hear that we don't know how to put theory into practice. Not all MAs are in reserched based positions. We scrub toilets and change diapers like everyone.That being said, I have worked with non degree and CDA partners who have had equal or more pay than me and they are the best at what they do.Nevada has a career ladder and NAEYC has programs in place to recognize teaching positions. We are moving forward in informing and educating legislators.early ed for pres​identbaby steps​

I understand that quality early childhood education is the key to a promising future and teacher salaries should be based on their educational background (degrees) to a certain degree.

I have worked with many people that have Associates, Bachelors, and Master degrees that are excellent at teaching, but others who lack the true passion and teaching ability and are not as deserving of a higher salary than those who may only have a High School Diploma or CDA. They tend to be more "book smart", but lack the true understanding of a child's social, emotional, physical, and educational well-being.

I myself learned later in life that I wanted to work with young children. I had gone to a trade school be be an esthetician (spa technician), but found while working in the industry that it was not the best fit for me. I was then offered a position as a Youth Services Assistant at a library. Here I performed storytimes, created programming, bibliographies, helped patrons find books and do research without an MLIS. This was when I found my passion for working with young children.

I went back to school and received a Certificate in Early Childhood Education and also received my CDA Credential. I began working in daycare and found that many of the teachers lacked a true love of the profession and many did not have any wanting to make ECE their career.They had degrees in other fields and just fell "into the profession".

It is so ridiculous to say a person who has a high school diploma is not as qualified as someone with a Masters Degree to work in a daycare center as a lead teacher. Many people have life experience that lends to the richness and culture of the learning environment. They have wonderful ideas and put their plans into action, whereas someone with a Masters may feel more entitled and slack off on their work just because of their degree. In this respect, I would pay the person with the high school diploma a similar wage due to their eagerness and intelligence working with children.

It is hard to make a blanked statement that life experience, hard work, and passion cannot lead to a quality teacher. Just ask some of the richest men and women in the world who formed businesses with only a high school diploma such as Bill Gates this. I'm sure he would say something quite similar. Book smarts do not equal putting teaching skills into use.

I myself would love to work in a school district, but unfortunately do not have the correct degree to do so at this time. Many people have acknowledged my teaching ability and say that I would make a great Kindergarten, 1st, or 2nd grade teacher due to my hard work and diligence.

I also create curriculum on TeacherspayTeachers.com for toddlers to second graders and have gotten many compliments on my work.

Thankfully, some school districts will allow me to work as a teacher's aide in these grades and that is an absolute joy. They understand that due to the economy and need to work that many people can not afford to go back to school for a higher education at this time.

I salute these school districts and hope one day that talent and innate ability in working with the children will lead to a change in our school systems around the country.

It is sad that the compensation for Early Childhood professionals is still so low. As a new teacher back in the early 90's with a combination of elementary course work as well as early childhood, I was able to begin with a salary commensurate with the other teachers in a public school setting. However, for some reason, there is a notion that anyone with any BS degree can teach in Early Childhood.

Still one of the biggest hurdles in Early Childhood is that trilemma of quality, compensation and affordability. Here in Kansas, some of us have been looking at what a livable wage should be. In Kansas for an individual (no children) it would be about $24,000 a year. Teachers at the entry level with their BS in public school settings make about $42,000 a year, with a masters about $49,000 and with a doctorate about #57,000. While even these salaries seem a bit low, our early childhood professionals with the same degree levels should be making at least these amounts. Given this information, our teachers with CDA credentials should be making about $29,000 a year and with a two year, AS degree about $35,000. To say the least, this is not happening.

One thing that needs to change is the notion that anyone with a HS diploma can take care of and educate young children. In the private sector, to try to maintain affordability, warm and breathing seems to pass for quality. Yes, a qualified babysitter can take care of one or two children for brief amounts of time, but parents don't realize what is happening in child care centers with unqualified persons. Classrooms can look more like a scene from The Lord of the Flies.

I think as preschools become attached to public schools, they will require a teacher with a Bachelor's degree and salaries will be commensurate. I just hope it will be early childhood qualified professionals at the Bachelor's level and not just anyone with any education degree.

Personally, I would like to see universal Head Start and Early Head Start for all children with qualified professionals in all classrooms. I do think there could be a sliding scale for tuition based on family salaries. That would create more equitable classrooms, too, when having children together from all cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Given that so many of our early childhood settings are in private for profit settings, I do think that licensure/certification should follow the teachers in early childhood just as they do for other educators rather than just or in addition to the settings. In our area, much is given to businesses and industry in the form of TIF (Tax Increment Financing). TIF causes border wars between Missouri and Kansas where businesses are constantly moving back and forth to gain tax advantages. Recently Sly James (the outgoing major of Kansas City) tried to pass a bill for Early Childhood Education with a regressive tax on constituents. Needless to say, it didn't pass. What I would rather see, rather than TIF, are districts being set up around businesses and even farming communities that take into account all the childcare centers in their areas. Businesses and communities would then be designated to make a certain amount of charitable contributions (tax free or tax deductible) to the centers in their areas; but only when the centers are hiring highly qualified Early Childhood educators. It should be at least CDA credentialing at the teacher aid/floater levels, AS/two year degree teachers at the lead teacher levels and bachelors and up at the coordinating teacher/director levels. These tax incentives should follow the amount of contributions made to Early Childhood Care and Education.

With hope for the future,

Diana

Diana Hurst

MA Curriculum & Instruction: K-12 w/emphasis in Early Childhood Education Professor, Early Childhood Education Johnson County Community College

12345 College Boulevard

Box 36 Overland Park, Kansas 66212

Office: CLB 434 913.469.8500 ext 3492

Everyone knows that the mind will not be kept from contemplating what it loves. -Mary Astell

The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto ("e-mail") is sent by the Johnson County Community College ("JCCC") and is intended to be confidential and for the use of only the individual or entity named above. The information may be protected by federal and state privacy and disclosures acts or other legal rules. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are notified that retention, dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please immediately notify JCCC by email reply and immediately and permanently delete this e-mail message and any attachments thereto. Thank you.

27. RE: Salary

A B.S degree in Child Development is not just any other degree is it equal to a High School Education , CDA which nether can be accepted in New York /New Jersey for Universal Preschool for All. I have a B.S in Child Development/ Associates in Early Childhood Education ,along with a Montessori Diploma for Pre-k/k salaries need to change moving with a scale that promotes an education level within a salary range.

It is sad that the compensation for Early Childhood professionals is still so low. As a new teacher back in the early 90's with a combination of elementary course work as well as early childhood, I was able to begin with a salary commensurate with the other teachers in a public school setting. However, for some reason, there is a notion that anyone with any BS degree can teach in Early Childhood.

Still one of the biggest hurdles in Early Childhood is that trilemma of quality, compensation and affordability. Here in Kansas, some of us have been looking at what a livable wage should be. In Kansas for an individual (no children) it would be about $24,000 a year. Teachers at the entry level with their BS in public school settings make about $42,000 a year, with a masters about $49,000 and with a doctorate about #57,000. While even these salaries seem a bit low, our early childhood professionals with the same degree levels should be making at least these amounts. Given this information, our teachers with CDA credentials should be making about $29,000 a year and with a two year, AS degree about $35,000. To say the least, this is not happening.

One thing that needs to change is the notion that anyone with a HS diploma can take care of and educate young children. In the private sector, to try to maintain affordability, warm and breathing seems to pass for quality. Yes, a qualified babysitter can take care of one or two children for brief amounts of time, but parents don't realize what is happening in child care centers with unqualified persons. Classrooms can look more like a scene from The Lord of the Flies.

I think as preschools become attached to public schools, they will require a teacher with a Bachelor's degree and salaries will be commensurate. I just hope it will be early childhood qualified professionals at the Bachelor's level and not just anyone with any education degree.

Personally, I would like to see universal Head Start and Early Head Start for all children with qualified professionals in all classrooms. I do think there could be a sliding scale for tuition based on family salaries. That would create more equitable classrooms, too, when having children together from all cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Given that so many of our early childhood settings are in private for profit settings, I do think that licensure/certification should follow the teachers in early childhood just as they do for other educators rather than just or in addition to the settings. In our area, much is given to businesses and industry in the form of TIF (Tax Increment Financing). TIF causes border wars between Missouri and Kansas where businesses are constantly moving back and forth to gain tax advantages. Recently Sly James (the outgoing major of Kansas City) tried to pass a bill for Early Childhood Education with a regressive tax on constituents. Needless to say, it didn't pass. What I would rather see, rather than TIF, are districts being set up around businesses and even farming communities that take into account all the childcare centers in their areas. Businesses and communities would then be designated to make a certain amount of charitable contributions (tax free or tax deductible) to the centers in their areas; but only when the centers are hiring highly qualified Early Childhood educators. It should be at least CDA credentialing at the teacher aid/floater levels, AS/two year degree teachers at the lead teacher levels and bachelors and up at the coordinating teacher/director levels. These tax incentives should follow the amount of contributions made to Early Childhood Care and Education.

With hope for the future,

Diana

Diana Hurst

MA Curriculum & Instruction: K-12 w/emphasis in Early Childhood Education Professor, Early Childhood Education Johnson County Community College

12345 College Boulevard

Box 36 Overland Park, Kansas 66212

Office: CLB 434 913.469.8500 ext 3492

Everyone knows that the mind will not be kept from contemplating what it loves. -Mary Astell

The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto ("e-mail") is sent by the Johnson County Community College ("JCCC") and is intended to be confidential and for the use of only the individual or entity named above. The information may be protected by federal and state privacy and disclosures acts or other legal rules. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are notified that retention, dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please immediately notify JCCC by email reply and immediately and permanently delete this e-mail message and any attachments thereto. Thank you.

28. RE: Salary

When I emerged victoriously (and in debt) with my shiny new BA in ECE 35 years ago, my first three classroom jobs paid MINIMUM WAGE. I was an Assistant Teacher in those jobs and the third place even suggested that being young made me more of a Craftsman than a professional. All of this is outright disrespectful to the professional and the profession itself. Now there are ways for college grads with a business degree to makes $43K their first two years teaching: unlike me, they don't have to pay off their student loans, they aren't struggling to eat, and they don't have to take as many tests and courses (both very expensive) as I did. This reflects not only some age discrimination in the field (because going for state license without a pipeline program from college is longer and requires more tests) but also shows growth in the field's professionalism, because now many positions do look for not only a BA with state credentials but sometimes an MA.

29. RE: Salary

Lot's of discussion for your question but not many answers. I am a director of a preschool on Maui and was wondering the same thing, wanting to provide Worthy Wages. I looked at the Dept. of Labor statistics to help me determine dollar amounts/goals. It appears that preschool teachers in HI get paid more than many, more than I realized.My pay range begins at $19 - $20+ depending on experience and compensation package.

30. RE: Salary

Aloha Karen, salary is always the main topic when we try to hire staff. My head teachers are making over $47,000.00 annually. A teacher with a BA degree starts at $35,000.00 annually, a teacher with an AA degree starts at $33,000.00 and a CDA is about $32,000.00 annually. I do have four teachers with a Master's degree and I normally start them at $40,000.00. Assistant teachers $13.00 and school aides $11.30. I have a total of 42 staff with 11 head teachers, 11 assistants teachers and 20 school aides. So hiring teachers is very difficult. Hope this helps.

Lot's of discussion for your question but not many answers. I am a director of a preschool on Maui and was wondering the same thing, wanting to provide Worthy Wages. I looked at the Dept. of Labor statistics to help me determine dollar amounts/goals. It appears that preschool teachers in HI get paid more than many, more than I realized.My pay range begins at $19 - $20+ depending on experience and compensation package.

Aloha Karen, salary is always the main topic when we try to hire staff. My head teachers are making over $47,000.00 annually. A teacher with a BA degree starts at $35,000.00 annually, a teacher with an AA degree starts at $33,000.00 and a CDA is about $32,000.00 annually. I do have four teachers with a Master's degree and I normally start them at $40,000.00. Assistant teachers $13.00 and school aides $11.30. I have a total of 42 staff with 11 head teachers, 11 assistants teachers and 20 school aides. So hiring teachers is very difficult. Hope this helps.

Lot's of discussion for your question but not many answers. I am a director of a preschool on Maui and was wondering the same thing, wanting to provide Worthy Wages. I looked at the Dept. of Labor statistics to help me determine dollar amounts/goals. It appears that preschool teachers in HI get paid more than many, more than I realized.My pay range begins at $19 - $20+ depending on experience and compensation package.

Aloha Karen, salary is always the main topic when we try to hire staff. My head teachers are making over $47,000.00 annually. A teacher with a BA degree starts at $35,000.00 annually, a teacher with an AA degree starts at $33,000.00 and a CDA is about $32,000.00 annually. I do have four teachers with a Master's degree and I normally start them at $40,000.00. Assistant teachers $13.00 and school aides $11.30. I have a total of 42 staff with 11 head teachers, 11 assistants teachers and 20 school aides. So hiring teachers is very difficult. Hope this helps.

Lot's of discussion for your question but not many answers. I am a director of a preschool on Maui and was wondering the same thing, wanting to provide Worthy Wages. I looked at the Dept. of Labor statistics to help me determine dollar amounts/goals. It appears that preschool teachers in HI get paid more than many, more than I realized.My pay range begins at $19 - $20+ depending on experience and compensation package.

33. RE: Salary

The cost of living in Hawaii is very high - last I checked, it was the highest in the nation. So Peter is probably struggling to find staff, even at levels that would seem dream-like to mainland programs...

------------------------------Maureen MurphyDirector of Member EngagementPACCALemoyne PA------------------------------

Aloha Karen, salary is always the main topic when we try to hire staff. My head teachers are making over $47,000.00 annually. A teacher with a BA degree starts at $35,000.00 annually, a teacher with an AA degree starts at $33,000.00 and a CDA is about $32,000.00 annually. I do have four teachers with a Master's degree and I normally start them at $40,000.00. Assistant teachers $13.00 and school aides $11.30. I have a total of 42 staff with 11 head teachers, 11 assistants teachers and 20 school aides. So hiring teachers is very difficult. Hope this helps.

Lot's of discussion for your question but not many answers. I am a director of a preschool on Maui and was wondering the same thing, wanting to provide Worthy Wages. I looked at the Dept. of Labor statistics to help me determine dollar amounts/goals. It appears that preschool teachers in HI get paid more than many, more than I realized.My pay range begins at $19 - $20+ depending on experience and compensation package.

Aloha Karen, salary is always the main topic when we try to hire staff. My head teachers are making over $47,000.00 annually. A teacher with a BA degree starts at $35,000.00 annually, a teacher with an AA degree starts at $33,000.00 and a CDA is about $32,000.00 annually. I do have four teachers with a Master's degree and I normally start them at $40,000.00. Assistant teachers $13.00 and school aides $11.30. I have a total of 42 staff with 11 head teachers, 11 assistants teachers and 20 school aides. So hiring teachers is very difficult. Hope this helps.